Shadow Keeper Pirates
by RyugaAburame
Summary: Money rules all, Tenryuubito rule money. After the natural deaths of the Worst Generation, the Marines cracked down on pirate uprising, all but wiping out aspiring pirates. The pirate life is all but lost. At a point like this, the only thing that can spark the fire of rebellion and revolution is a good book about a rubber man, written by none other than a skeleton with an afro.
1. Beginning of Infamy

How many was that? He had run out of space on the walls of his 10 by 10 foot cell and had to start marking his old books to keep track of the days. So far, it had been 4,744 days since he woke up in this cell. Well, he had gone to sleep and woken up that many times. There were 365 days in a year, right? That made 12 years, give or take 3 days for leap years. He hoped to God that he hadn't just been napping constantly... Pfft. There was no God to hope to. Certainly not one that would allow what had happened to him to transpire.

Back before he was stuck in this cell, 13 years ago when Giru was 8 years old. Mom had been crying all day. Dad was angry, and Giru had been told not to come out of his room. He could still hear them from the top of the stairs. "HOW DID A LOW CLASS GET THE BEST LAWYER IN NORTH BLUE!?" Mom yelled through her tears.  
Dad sounded angrier than before, "I don't know. But this is serious. With all we did to that lowlife scum, he could sue for our entire fortune, and then some."

He knew suing was the greatest weapon in the world. Or at least, he thought he knew. Low class people shouldn't have lawyers, though. Mom and Dad always said they only spend money on prostitutes and drugs. "GIRU!" called dad. He had never heard his dad yell like that. He waited a moment to make it seem like he hadn't been at the top of the stairs, then rushed down.  
"Yes sir?" He asked, hands behind his back.  
"Put your best suit on. We're going to court". Giru frowned. That suit was itchy, and he couldn't eat anything until he got out of it.

The court was always so quiet. Giru could never do anything but sit quietly when he was there. He could imagine things, but that usually led to him moving and humming, so he tried not to do that. The low class man said that mom and dad had did a lot of mean things to him. Giru didn't know what 'extreme sadism' meant, but it sounded mean. Nothing with whips laced with glass could be nice.  
"They offered me a week's stay, free of charge with no strings attached. But when I got there, they threw me into a basement and treated me like an animal!"  
The man pulled up his shirt to show his scars. Everyone said he was lying, and that he did that to himself. But the man pulled out video den den mushi, and Mom fainted. It was the one mom never let Giru play with, and Giru knew it because it had the same crack on the shell that mom's had. The video showed mom and dad doing really weird things to the man... so weird that Giru had to look away.

The low class man won the trial. He got so much money that Giru figured he could run his own prostitute and drug market now. Mom and Dad didn't seem very happy for the man, though. When the three of them got home, Giru had to go upstairs and bag up all his toys, and the suit he was wearing. All his good suits, actually. Anything that was fancy, plus his toys, he had to bag up neatly. All of it was gone so fast that within the next two days, the house looked deserted. All except for that one fruit that Dad wouldn't even let Mom touch. It used to be up on a gold pedestal. Now it was in a plastic fruit bowl.

"We still owe him another three million!" Mom cried out, reaching to clutch at her chest, forgetting that she had sold her pearls the day before.  
"Wait," Dad said, "The Celestial Dragons."  
Giru had been told to never talk to, look at, or deny a Celestial Dragon. He knew they had funny bubbles on their heads, but he didn't know what they looked like.  
"Impossible. We're mere humans. We can't ask them for money!"  
Were they actually dragons? Is that why they didn't like humans? Giru stood there in his pajamas, looking back and forth between parents as they talked.  
"No. Not that... The dragons... pay a lot of money for slaves."  
"You're going to-"  
"For the love of God, no! But... there is one of us who has yet to contribute to the money..."  
"... No. He's just a child, they'll have no interest in him."  
"Although..."

Dad looked at the plastic fruit bowl.  
Mom looked at the plastic fruit bowl.  
Mom and Dad looked at each other.  
Mom and Dad looked at Giru.

It tasted awful. It felt squishy and almost alive, like wriggly worms or octopus tentacles. Giru could almost swear he heard a voice laugh. It was a male, but it wasn't his father. It said "thirteen" very softly. Right after he finished it, Giru's back started to hurt a lot. He passed out.  
He was dizzy. He couldn't move or talk. But he could hear. A very weird voice, sounding like it belonged to a fat guy, said "Yes, yes! A fine slave, he will make! What devil fruit did you say he has?"  
"Akuma Akuma, your greatness!" His father replied happily.  
"Akooooomaaaaa... yes, yes! We could just take him, but since you humans decided to bring him straight to us instead of go through slave auctions, we'll give you... oh, I don't know. Let's just call it 500 million."  
Was father jumping? Was he... smiling?

Had Giru ever seen him smile?

Then he woke up here. A tiny, dingy white cell with a metal door, a light bulb, and a bed, wearing a black jumpsuit that, no matter how much he pulled, didn't come off. He hadn't left since. He never needed to use the bathroom. Never felt hungry. Never got sick.

Never heard from the Celestial Dragons.

Maybe that was his devil fruit power? Never needing the bathroom or food? The celestial dragons might have known that and just not fed him or gave him a toilet. He knew they didn't forget about him, almost every time he woke up, there was a new book. Some on battle tactics. Psychology. The human body. Physics. It was like someone was preparing him for something. To be a strategist. It was very odd to have a slave do such a thing. He had read every book he was given hundreds of times over. He knew the information like the roof of this cell. There was just so much **nothing**. If his math was right, tomorrow would be his 21st birthday. How much longer would he be in here? He couldn't starve to death or kill himself- he'd tried. As his eyes drifted closed, Giru Donogaka hoped they would not open again.

Sleep is never conscious. It's like as soon as you fall asleep, you wake up. Giru's eyes drifted open.

And standing there in front of him was a demon.

At least, he thought it was a demon. It had grey skin and white hair. Its forehead bore golden horns. Its eyes were black where they were supposed to be white, and the irises were red. Its face was shaped a little like his mother's, but a whole lot like his dad's. It wore a black and red vertical striped muscle shirt- or maybe that was just its skin- and black baggy pants, held up with a yellow sash. There were three golden spikes half wrapped around its torso, and bandages wrapped around its forearms. It wore black tabi. Worst of all, it had six black, red spiked tentacles coming out of its back, and a long grey tail with golden spikes and black and red stripes at the spikes.  
Giru sat up, extending his neck. "Please, kill me quick. If you wanna do it slow, please, please don't take too long."  
The demon laughed. It had a wide, unstable smile. "No, no, no. I'm not here to kill ya, bucko."  
Weird. It sounded a little like dad too. Just distorted and demonic. 

"I'm here to let you go."

Giru's head shot up. That had to be a trick. 13 years in this tiny cell, and now he's being set free? "Yeah, right." Giru responded. He then froze. His own voice sounded like the demon, just undistorted. Had he stopped talking for a few years?  
"Yeah, it is right. I'm letting you out. Your sentence is up. 13 years."  
Thirteen? That was...  
"You know, 13? The unlucky number? Devil's number? Akuma fruit? I did give you books, right?"  
Giru stood up, not sure whether to be angry or confused.

Angry sounded good.

"Don't play with me like this." He said threateningly, even though he knew he was no match for the demon. "I've been sitting here for 13 damn years, and now all of a sudden I'm free? Are you a celestial dragon?"  
The demon folded its arms, shaking its head. "Wrong again. I'm YOU."  
Before Giru could retort, it spoke again.  
"This was consequence for eating the most cursed fruit. The fruit of the demon. 13 years locked inside your own mind. I read a book, it appears in here. We two are now one."

The demon made a face. It didn't like the sound of that. "Us two... are now one? We one are two? Eh, I'll figure it out." It levitated, turning clockwise circles in the air.  
Giru was now too confused to be angry. "So then... I get to go?"  
The demon, or, Giru's other half, kept on spinning. "In a manner of speaking. You were still sold to the Celestial Dragons. Once you're out of our head, you can choose to either serve them or escape. I've given you everything you need- Oop. Someone's coming."  
The demon pulled a book out of thin air and tossed it to Giru. "Read that! Once you're done, go to sleep. Then you can make your choice!"  
Then Giru was alone again. He sat on the bed, staring blankly at the book.

"The Tale of Straw Hat Luffy"


	2. First One Bites the Dust

It was unbelievable. One boy who mistakenly ate a devil fruit turned into such a monumental influence on the world. He saved people's lives, even from themselves. Cast aside people's loneliness and hate, accepted all for who they were and looked out into the world with a pure heart. He was a good man who wanted to be the freest person on the ocean, and was portrayed to be a villain because he was a pirate. He defended himself and his friends, and was labelled a menace. A teenager that wanted to have fun, thrown into countless deadly battles because he wanted to help people.

At the heart of everything, though...

Was the World Government.

Enies Lobby. Impel Down. Marinefort. Mariejois. Doflamingo. The biggest problems came from the ones that the government protected. The Shichibukai, some traitors to their own kind, some simply taking the title to avoid persecution, some legitimate in their purpose. Jimbei, to be precise. So many problems caused by the government, who Giru was taught all his life was the protector of all, enemy of evil. He was taught pirates were to be feared and outcast. That the poor were disgusting, barely human people that made themselves that way by spending money on drugs and hookers and it was their fault for being born poor. Rage seethed at the back of his head, but disgust permeated all the way through. The world government and the Celestial Dragons needed to go. If Luffy could take down these saps by eating a fruit that did nothing but make him rubber, Giru could achieve even more with whatever this Akuma fruit did to him. First, he needed a crew.

No.

First, he needed to get out of his own head. Then out of wherever the Dragons kept slaves. Then, a crew. Giru laid down to sleep as the demon-... as his other half had instructed. As soon as he did, he felt himself drift to sleep.

Giru's eyes fluttered open. He was still in a cell. A cell with seastone bars. Out of his head. He stood up, looking at his body. He was grey, just like the other. He wore similar clothes. He looked behind himself. Tail and tentacles. How was he supposed to move them?

' _Easy. Just think of it like flexing your back muscles._ '

There was the other one again. Giru looked around for a body to match the voice, but there was none. He scratched his head. Was he hearing things?

' _No, jackass. I told you, we're part of one whole now. I'm in your head. Now do what I said_.'

Giru didn't completely understand, but it was his only way out. He closed his eyes and tightened the muscles in his back, trying to move the six new fleshy limbs. They twitched and shook just a little, but nothing else.

' _Hmm. I guess I'll control these for now. Okay, now here's your turn. In two minutes, a guard is going to come down here, strap you to the bottom of a chair, and you'll carry a celestial dragon around wherever they need to go. You can either allow that to happen, or kill the man and make a break for the exit. I know the directions. Now... what do you want?_ '

Giru had to think on that.

A life of slavery, or the life of a fugitive?

Giru thought of his parents forcing that man to eat their excrement.

The Gray Terminal Fire

His life of luxury at the expense of others... ripped away by those that gave it to him.

Being sold by his parents.

Giru's rage pushed forward to the surface. "Kill him."

As soon as the words left his mouth, a door opened and the familiar sound of classy shoes stepping down marble stairs echoed to Giru. A man in a pressed suit carried a ring of keys appeared from the stairwell. "Evening, Slave #AQB77. You're requested for ride duty again." He said as he began unlocking the door. Before giru could speak, his mouth opened up and his eyes shined bright red, revealing the distorted voice. " _Coolio. I get to wear the kneepads, though, right?_ "

Was... was the other one taking over his body?

"I'm sure there'll be no objections to that." The guard said as the door opened. Why wasn't he scared by the red eyes? Was that... just what happened when the other talked?

" _Cool beans. Oh, by the way, You kiss the wife this morning?_ "

"The dragons saw my wife and wanted her, so she's not my wife anymore. Tch. I don't even think she minded."

Giru's face smiled, but he didn't make it do that. " _Niceroni_."

The guard was now suspended in the air, held up by the six tentacles that had went from fleshy to steel hard. The man was dropped by the still smiling, red eyed Giru, who started counting off on his fingers, ' _Let's see. Heart, stabbed. Both Lungs, pierced. Both kidneys, penetrated, aaaand Liver destroyed. All six tentacles put to good use_.'

The eyes returned to their normal state. Giru was in control again. He stood there in shock, gazing at what 'he' just did. But he couldn't gaze for long.

' _Well, what're ya waitin' for!? RUN!_ '

Giru bolted up the stairs.


	3. Almost There

The top of the stairs led to a giant metal door, sealed by an equally giant lock. Giru tried pushing against it, but no luck. One of the tentacles tapped his shoulder, and a second one rising to show a ring of keys snagged on the conical spike. " _Looking for something?"_ Akuma teased, spinning the keys on the spike. Giru took them and unlocked the door.

Outside of the door was an immaculate garden, the bright green grass trimmed to perfection. A moving crystal sidewalk twisted and curved through the garden, obviously meant for the Celestial Dragons to walk on. Some of the shrubbery was cut into the shapes of dragons, some were cut into actual world nobles. Giru couldn't take the time to admire it, though. Directed by the other, Giru ran directly across the crystal sidewalk, which immediately alerted the 3 nearby guards. Each of them raised a rifle, taking no time to warn or threaten Giru as they pulled the trigger. Giru shut his eyes in anticipation of the pain, but there was none. There was only a slight pinch on two of his new tentacles as they blocked the bullets. " _I TOLD YOU TO WORK ON YOUR QUICKFIRE, HENRY!"_ taunted the other as Giru leaped over a shrub literally cut into the shape of a 500,000 Beli. His muscle capacity was light, but maybe the other had done some strenuous activity as a slave, because Giru wasn't the slightest bit winded.

"Hey." Giru said calmly as he continued to run, "What am I supposed to call you?" He asked.

There was no pause for contemplation as the other responded " _Big Papa_ ". Giru rolled his eyes. "Are you stupid, or just plain crazy?"

" _Yes_."

"Yes to which one?"

" _Yes_."

"Ugh. Either way, I'm not calling you that." Giru said, irritation peeking through his voice.

" _But I love it when you call me Big Papa_."

"Be serious."

" _What makes you think I'm not?_ "

The door that lead out of the the garden began to slowly close. Giru started to panic internally, as he knew he wasn't running fast enough to make it. "Can we break through that?"

" _No siree. Seastone. But, we can make it. Imagine yourself floating_."

Giru imagined this new body of his suspended in midair, like an elemental of some sort. He noticed his feet no longer touching the ground, though he was still moving forward. "Levitation?"

" _Levitation_."

Giru leaned forward, propelling himself along as the gate kept falling. The gate couldn't keep up as Giru zoomed through, knocking guards off their feet. He leaned back, kind of like putting on the brakes to stop himself. A man stood in front of him with a spear and a coat of armor, blocking his path. Giru judged by his size and the weight of his armor that he specialized in brute strength, so he would more than likely not stab with the spear, but swing it around with the tip to slash. His legs seemed under-worked, as if the only exercise they got was lugging that armor around. He definitely wasn't built for speed. ' _Aw, dude, did you just battle-analyze him!? I knew those books would come in handy!_ '

It was over in a flash. The few places where the armor was gapped were invaded by the sharp red conical spikes of tentacles. Behind both knees, inside both elbows, and right through the mouth. " _Choke on it!_ "

"The fuck?"

" _Look, I'm batshit insane, alright bud? So stop being surprised now, cuz I'm only gonna get weirder._ "

The tentacles retracted and whipped the air, shaking the blood off. Majority of it landed on the dead body. The tentacles ripped off a piece of the man's clothes and threw it on him. " _Now clean yourself off, whore._ "

"When will you get out of my head?"

" _5 to 10 business days._ "

"Seriously, when."

" _I won't. We're stuck together till death do us part._ "

As he said that, a tentacle came up and gently stroked Giru's cheek.


	4. Behind door 1 is!

He had to live with this thing for the rest of his life then. Fantastic. "If that's the case," Giru said as he swatted away the tentacle that was caressing his face, "then I need a name". He was still levitating forward, but now at a walking pace. There was nothing to fear, right? Bullets meant nothing.

 _'Did I or did I not tell you to call me Big Papa?'_ The other asked in Giru's head. It seed like it could both speak in his head and take over Giru's voice. That was problematic.  
"I'll call you Akuma, since you came from that fruit." He decided, looking around for more guards.  
'I would settle for Daddy.

Giru slowly opened a door, peeking through to see if anything was waiting for him on the other side. He noticed that as soon as he touched the handle, he stopped levitating. "Seastone. There must be a surprise on the other side."  
 _'A Seastone lined bullet could be the death of us.'_

Giru hadn't considered the existence of those. That definitely was a problem. "What all can I do with these powers?"  
 _'Well,'_ Akuma began, _' it's a Zoan fruit. It turns you into the creature of its namesake. Say if you had eaten a Lion fruit. You would have a human-shaped lion body, and could turn into a true lion, as well as get lion senses. You have the Demon fruit. You have the body of a demon, and somewhere in the future you'll be able to turn into a full demon. You're immune to fire, you can levitate, and teleport. The teleportation is super weak right now, though. 20 feet radius.'  
_  
Giru mulled that over. If he were to open the door, everyone on the other side would instantly fire, and he would have no time to judge 20 feet to teleport anywhere. Seastone bullets would be dangerous to block, if at all possible.

Giru looked back at the dead armored man.

The door flung open, a flurry of bullets coming soon after. The bullets bounced off the armor of their previous ally, rebounding to pick off each of the guards one by one. The armored man and the firing squad fell at the same time. Giru poked his head around the human shield's shoulder, making sure it was safe to come out. He walked out, seeing the coast was clear.

"Akuma,"  
"You mean Big Papa."  
"Just to be safe, stab them all a couple times."  
"Aww, look who's turning into a barbarian!"

The tentacles rose like snakes, then fell like rain onto the bodies of the guards, leaving them all riddled bloody masses. They moved at such an incredible speed, seeing as there were only six, but it looked like 60. But there was one person that was just lying there. A white haired, skinny man. Not even a bullet hole from before marked him, though. "Hey. You didn't kill him."  
 _"Go over there."_  
Giru walked over, making sure to kick away the gun. The man stood up, causing Giru to hesitate. He started making motions with his hands. Sign language. _"Good to see ya, Mist."_ said Akuma. Mist nodded, then tapped his throat twice and made the sign for question. _"Remember I told you I'm not the owner of this body? That's the real owner's voice. Giru, this is Mist. He came here to be executed for being a mercenary, but I changed up his look and swapped him for a guard that looked pretty similar. Mist, Giru. He ate the Akuma Akuma fruit, and here we are."_  
Mist nodded.  
"So then he's leaving with us?"  
 _"Yup."  
_  
Giru raised an eyebrow. "Wait. How did he not get hit by the rebounded bullets?"

Mist pointed to his eyes, which had crosshairs at the pupil  
 _"Mist ate the Mark Mark fruit. Aiming is his specialty. He most likely shot the bullets that were coming to him out of the air."_  
Giru gave an uninterested grunt.  
"Now how are we getting out of here?"


	5. A Pirate's Life For Me

Mist, in impersonating a Celestial Guard, had gotten a hold of an average sized ship that was docked at the port of Saobody. It had the Celestial Dragon emblem on the sail, so no pirate would dare touch it. As long as Giru wasn't seen, this would be a simple procedure. A Celestial Guard would never be questioned about what he was doing by anyone but a Celestial Dragon. If the other guards saw Giru, however, things would become exponentially complicated.

"So, how do we hide a grey skinned man with white hair and tentacles?" Giru asked sarcastically. Mist raised an eyebrow before hand signing a few words.

" _No, that's another part of the punishment for eating the demon of demon fruits. He doesn't have a basic human form. He can retract the tentacles though._ "

Giru felt slightly grossed out as the tentacles wormed their way into his body, becoming no more than black spots on his back. " _You'll learn to control them when we're out on the water. For now, let's just focus on getting there._ " Akuma said. Mist nodded in response. "Well, I'm still grey and I still have white hair."

" _We can probably hide in a giant barrel, and Mist can pretend to be taking supplies aboard the ship!_ "

Giru wanted to slap himself. "No. Hell no. That's a stupid idea, and I-"

Mist rolled the wooden barrel along the ground, calmly making his way toward the ship. All the pirates in the area parted as he came closer, cutting glares his way as he passed by. Mist ignored them, although a lot of them would have pulled in big bounties. Inside the barrel, Giru was scowling.

'If I could slap you, I would in a heartbeat.'

' _I get the impression that you're upset_.'

'I am rolling around in a barrel. I reserve the right to be upset.'

' _No, I think that right hasn't been put into law yet_.'

'Do you joke about everything?'

' _More or less, yep_.'

Mist placed the barrel upright, then handed a note to the crewman which read 'write down the procedure for docking and steering the ship, as well as what to do in a storm and where the maps are'. The crewman read over the note with a tinge of disinterest to his eye, then left to the captain's cabin to write down the requested material. Mist sat around for about 10 minutes while Giru silently stewed in his barrel before the crewman came back, handing three sheets of paper to Mist. "There. That all you needed?"

Mist shook his head, giving the man another note. 'Delivering a barrel of gold to Enies Lobby'. The man read the note, then balled it up. "What, you're too good to talk to me?!"

All the crewman seemed to pay attention to that. Mist just flashed the Celestial Dragon badge. The man grunted and got the crew to set sail.

Once the island of Saobody became a mere speck on the horizon, the crewmen surrounded Mist, guns and swords poised for attack. Mist just looked at them blankly. "We'll be taking that barrel of gold, jackass." The captain said, cocking his gun. Mist knocked on the barrel twice, but before he could hit it a third time, Giru bursted out, clearly irritated. The crew got extremely angry, their promise of Gold a lie. They didn't have long to be angry. Mist pulled out two revolvers, and Giru's tentacles sprouted out. The ones that didm't jump overboard themselves were dumped off. Lifeless bodies aren't very good at jumping off a ship on their own.

Now the two... and a half... people were alone. Giru angrily threw the pieces of the barrel overboard and sat on a bench. " _So, now what? You escaped slavery, you have a ship. What do you want to do with it?_ "

Mist made a few hand signs.

" _Mist says he'll follow us wherever we go_."

Giru thought about it. Did he want to be king of the pirates? No. That was a pipe dream, and Luffy was extremely lucky to achieve it. A guy who was sold into slavery by his own parents didn't exactly scream lucky. Marines was a definite no. He had no talent with swords, slingshots, navigation, music, medicine, or shipbuilding. He didn't want to become the 'Greatest in the world' at anything. Did he want to join the Seven Warlords? No. That involved the government, and as soon as the Dragons saw him, he would be dead meat...

The Dragons.

"I want to kill all of the Celestial Dragons."

Mist hurriedly signed some more.

" _He says maybe not all places. And that might be bigger than Pirate King. You read Luffy's tale. He merely punched a dragon, and his team got obliterated and had to regroup two whole years later_."

"Not just the Dragons. Corruption in general. From lying politicians all the way to the Dragons. The rich that would rather sell their only son than be poor."

" _So, your goal is to kill corrupt leaders in general? That's add something we can start small on. We still need a crew, though._ "

Mist signed.

" _Mist says he's with us. You have your first mate, Captain Giru."_

Mist signed again.

" _Oh, yea! I was thinking Pimp Daddy Pirates_."

"Forget it. Do we really need a pirate name?"

Mist signed.

" _Shadow... holder_?"

Mist shook his head, then spelled out 'Keeper' in sign language.

" _Shadow Keeper Pirates... it has a ring to it, plus the captain is a demon_."

Giru looked up in thought. "Actually, it does roll off the tongue. It's settled then. Shadow Keeper Pirates, captained by Giru Donogaka."

" _You'll get a pirate nickname the more famous you get. Mist isn't very famous, but a few pirates here and there know him._ "

Mist pointed to the sail, which still bore the Celestial Dragon sail. Giru glared up at it, then began to levitate towards it. "Akuma. I think I want to learn how to use these tentacles now."


	6. He'll Be Levitating Over The Mountain-

Having six new appendages was odd in itself. Attempting to move them was a whole other story. The tentacles didn't have joints or bones. They were just pure muscle that could flex to become hard. He felt the positions of them on his back, but doing more than getting them to twitch was difficult. " _Hey, what about reflex response?_ " Akuma suggested. "Like a quick pain to move them away subconsciously? Yea, that could work to get me the feeling of how to move them." Giru replied. For once, Akuma had a good idea. The barrel didn't count.

Mist raised one of the swords left on the ship above his head, Giru's tentacles laid out on a bench. "Wait. What if I still can't move them?"

Mist shrugged and swung the sword down, chopping 7 inches off one of the tentacles. Giru pulled them all back, stomping to try and bite down the pain. After he didn't need to scream from pain anymore, he shouted at Mist "I THOUGHT IT WAS GONNA BE A SMALL PAIN, MIST!"

Mist shrugged and tried to hide his smile. " _But look. You're moving them now_."

Giru looked behind himself to see the tentacles waving in midair, the one that was cut off very slowly regenerating. He moved them around, getting the feel of the appendages and how to move them. "Gotta say, it's difficult. There's no bone, just pure muscle."

" _Like a dick_."

"Shut up."

" _Wait, CAN you move your dick like a tentacle?_ "

Giru felt a very unpleasant sensation as Akuma attempted to take over Giru's lower half.

"DON'T EVEN TRY!"

" _But I'm curious_."

"YOU'RE A MORON."

 _"A curious moron_."

Mist was trying with all his might to stifle a smile. It was like Giru was talking to himself, switching up voices as he pretended to be different people.

The Celestial Dragon sail was torn to shreds and the boat remained motionless. Giru held a map showing Saobody and all the surrounding islands. Mist made some hand signs. " _He says the first thing we need to do is get as far away from the Grand Line as possible. He's right, the closer you get to it, the stronger the pirates are. East Blue was once thought the weakest of the seas before the Straw Hats appeared, but as of now South Blue is._ "

"Okay, but how do we get there? Isn't it over the Red Line, with the current that goes straight over a mountain?" Giru asked, scratching his head in confusion. Mist made a flying motion with his hands. " _I don't think this ship can fly. The Celestial Dragons hardly ever leave Mariejois, let alone North Blue. I think... I think we're stuck here._ "

Giru felt his heartbeat speed up. Pirates with bounties over millions of Belly gathered around Saobody to get their ships coated and go to Fishman Island. He was a freshly escaped slave. There was no way he could stay here and live to tell the tale. "What if we levitate over it? We can carry Mist."

All were silent for a moment. " _That means passing through the Calm Belt though. We can't levitate forever, and we'd be like an appetizer flying over the water. Sea Kings aren't picky eaters._ "

Mist hand signed some more. Giru was going to need to learn how to read that. " _Oh, right! The ship is coated with seastone on the bottom!... But... we, uh... tore up the sail._ "

Mist pulled out one of the lists. Under Storm Procedure, it stated that there was a complete extra set of sails in storage, for if the current one got torn up.

" _Well, let's go get it. We sail to the Red Line, levitate over it, then get a new ship and go on to South Blue_."

"With what money?" Giru asked.

" _I'll do some gigolo_ _work-_ "

Giru slapped himself. He new it was futile, but it had to be done.

" _Okay, okay. We'll do some mercenary work for money first._ "

Mist seemed to agree to that idea.

With the laid out instructions, sailing to the red line was easy enough. The Sea Kings didn't even notice the ship due to the coating. The Red Line was large, but not impossible. Giru wrapped Mist up in his tentacles and floated up over the mountain, leaving the ship at the bottom. It was a memento of the past, and Giru wanted none of that. As they ascended over the Red Line, Giru had to quickly dodge two oncoming ships both bearing flags with dog skulls.

Reaching the top, Giru stopped levitating and let himself fall until he was about 30 feet off the ground, then kicked the levitation on again to slow his fall. This was the area where Luffy met Laboon the whale.

"My word!" someone said as Giru landed. "You bunch sure gave me a fright. It's not every day someone comes from the OTHER side to over here."

"I'll say though, that was a SUUUPEEER ENTRANCE!"


	7. Living Legends

Giru couldn't believe his eyes. The Skeleton Brook and Cyborg Franky. The two immortal members of the Straw Hat crew. There was no mistaking them. A skeleton in a suit with an afro, a large robot with a metal nose and blue hair, very loud and obnoxious.

"Why have you come over to this side? Most pirates look to get where you came from."

Giru recounted the events of the last week of his life to Brook, leaving no detail out. Akuma piped up a few times to exaggerate certain aspects, but all in all the tale was told.

Franky's eyes were streaming as a small yellow hand came out of his giant red hand to wipe away the tears, "Zuch a zad ztoreeeeee! Your parents are ZUUUPER CRUEL, DUDE!"

"The South Blue, eh? I suppose you'll be needing a ship to get there, then."

Giru and Mist nodded. " _I already said I'd do some gigolo work for the money to buy one. Ladies love tentacles._ "

Everyone stared at Giru, and by extension Akuma. Giru pinched the bridge of his nose before saying "I'd tell you to ignore him if it was possible."

Brook put a bony finger to his skeletal chin. "Destroying the Celestial Dragons, though. That's quite a goal to set for yourself. The Dragons themselves are easy pickings, but the repercussions... I doubt Zoro in his prime could take on a Marine Admiral of today."

Mist hand signed. Akuma started to translate, but Brooke put up a hand. He could understand.

"I say that because the Marines have played a dirty hand. At the deaths of the most powerful fruit users, the Marines took it upon themselves to acquire those reincarnated fruits and give them to admirals. Currently, the admirals of the navy use the Quake Quake fruit, the Dark Dark, and the Glint Glint. All of them can use Haki, and all are well versed in combat. Some believe they may even be enhanced by Germa technology, as well as all the rest of the marine force."

That was a lot to take in. Things were more dangerous for pirates now than they had ever been.

"What about the fruits from your crew?" Akuma asked.

Franky shook his head. "No offense, Brother, but we don't know you. Nobody gets that information."

That was fair enough.

Giru looked up at Franky. He seemed less... hyper than the book described him. Maybe he just missed his crew. "Brook. Franky. I aim to kill the celestial dragons as well as anyone who stands in the way. The current state of the world, as you have described it, does not allow me to take a pure hearted approach like Luffy did. My marksman uses guns, not slingshots. If we're labelled murderers, then so be it. If we're hunted, so be it. But the dragons will die. But before I can do any of that..."

Giru dropped to his hands and knees, retracting his tentacles into his back with his head bowed. He clenched the grass in a flurry of emotion he couldn't describe if he wanted to. The dragons. The world government. All of it needed to disappear. "FRANKY! WILL YOU BUILD MY SHIP!?"

Franky smiled down at Giru. "You just had to ask."


	8. Lessons in Pirating

As Franky went to work building the ship, Giru and Mist decided to do some training to make themselves stronger. Brook volunteered to help them, which was appreciated very much. First, Mist had to take care of something.

Mist and Brook had a bit of a conversation about what Giru said. " 'My marksman uses guns, not slingshots', correct?"

Mist nodded.

"Well, I'll tell you now that you're as good as dead if you keep that up. If you would be so kind as to shoot me?"

Mist's eyes widened in surprise, but Brook assured him it was fine. "And please, do it as fast as you can. Quickdraw, if you will."

Mist spread his feet shoulder width apart, slightly leaning forward with his right foot 2 inches ahead of his left. He twitched his hand twice to see if Brook was going to react to muscle movements, but Brook didn't even flinch. Mist remained still for a little while longer, then very quickly pulled his gun and shot at Brook's skeletal chest. He blinked, and Brook wasn't standing there anymore. He felt a very thin finger tap him on the shoulder, turning to see the afro skeleton standong behind him. He shot again, thinking that a close range shot would be impossible to dodge... he thought wrong. Brooke was behind him again, yet instead of a skeletal finger on his shoulder, the edge of a sword was at his neck. "You see, guns are entirely too slow. Any pirate in the New World would laugh at a person threatening him with a simple gun. I have some ideas for you that I'm sure would be much better than gunpowder and bullets."

Dials. The same Skypia dials that Usopp had used to make himself stronger. There were thousands of them in Brook and Franky's storage, all from Usopp hoarding them after a return to Skypia. Each fortunately in labelled sections, though one dial was up on a pedestal. 'Versus Luffy', the plaque read. Brook had asked Mist not to take that one. He was to take 10 dials from any 4 crates that he chose, then to get 4 Breeze Dials. Instantly, Flame Dial and Freeze Dial appealed to him, so he took 2 of those two types. Lightning Dial too, of course. He didn't want to seem too set on elemental stuff, so he randomly looked through crates until he stumbled upon Mana Dials. There was a small notebook near this crate, so Mist picked it up before he found the crate labelled Breeze Dial and took 4 of those, then went back to Brook with his bag of Dials.

"Now, what I want you to do is make guns out of these."

Mist blinked twice, a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"You're a marksman. You know the workings of a gun, correct?"

Mist nodded, still being dumbfounded.

"Using these dials, create guns. Use the Breeze Dials as the base of the barrel. Breeze Dials generate a lot of wind, so the amount of compressed gas will skyrocket. Faster bullets. Use the other types of dials as the rest of the barrel to coat a bullet in whatever element the dial posseses."

Mist nodded, clenching his arm in nervousness. He then pulled out the Mana Dial notebook, handing it to Brook, who skimmed over it.

"Oh, my." Brooke said, studying the pages. "Get more of this kind. Make these the frame and trigger of your gun. The more contact you have with the area, the more you need to make it out of this."

Mist headed back into the storage area.

Meanwhile, Giru had been told to focus his attention on coordination with his tentacles, then rigorous excersize.

' _Ok, so you know how to move them. But you can't use them like i can. Look, i'll take over three, you use three_.'

Giru moved the three tentacles on the left while Akuma used the three on the right. He instantly noticed the difference in ability. While Akuma's movements were natural and comfortable, Giru's signed loud and clear that he didn't know exactly how to control them.

' _Take a look at this big rock here. Hit it as fast as you can_.'

Giru tried, but it was all too sluggish. These tentacles were a mass of pure muscle that cpuld move and twist in any direction, unlike arms and legs.

' _Okay, we gotta start fresh. Sit down and meditate. Think of only the tentacles. Do nothing but wave them and breathe_.'

Giru did as he was told, though he had his doubts on any methods Akuma wanted him to use. Meditation came easy for him. He had been alone and virtually completely silent for 13 years, after all. In his trance, he was surrounded by nothingness and the only other thing were the tentacles, detactched from his body and floating in front of him. He made the movements he normally would to use the tentacles, watching them move in front of his face. He would have to remain in trance for a while to learn how to use these efficiently.

Franky hadn't gotten the chance to build a ship for a while. He wasn't rusty or anything, but so many ideas shifting through his head would make it difficult to decide what to do. "The freaky tentacle dude said he's takin' a more deadly approach to his adventure. Guess I should make his ship **super** sturdy. A Galleon, maybe."

As he thought out loud, Franky was drawing up the blueprints. "Makin' it black would probably be taboo. I'll leave it at the brown of Adam Wood."


	9. Preparedness

Franky usually had the guys at Galley-La to help him build ships after he drew up the plans, but at this point he would have to get Brook, the mute guy, and the tentacle dude to help him with the construction. He was right about having too many ideas for ships, because as soon as he picked up a pencil and some map paper, he couldn't decide where to start. He didn't need to make it flashy, but it did need to function right. So, they needed a Galleon. Fast enough to escape, yet sturdy enough to take a beating and give one out too. He could wait for the cannons, ask them if they even wanted any. First and foremost, he had to start the blueprint.

Mist had gotten more of the Mana Dials as Brook had requested, bringing them back and placing them on a workbench, along with all the other dials and some tools. There were also four guns on the table: Two Linebaugh .500 Pistols, a Benelli M4 Shotgun, an AK-12 Assault Rifle. Mist had went into the nearby town and gotten these with some monetary help from Brook.

"Now, I want you to take apart each gun and rebuild it with Mana Dials. You can use Franky's blowtorch to connect the pieces. If you need to, you can break the mana dials. The inside components can remain the same, as long as you use a breeze dial at the base of the barrel, and the elemental dials as the rest of the length. Have fun."

And with that, Brook left Mist to his work.

Giru remained in meditation, trying to get a better handle on his tentacles. Since these were his main form of defense and attack, he needed to be able to use them as proficiently as Akuma could. So far, he could slowly wave them around and move them a bit, but learning to use a completely new body part was harder than it sounded, and it sounded pretty hard. He would have to meditate for quite a while...

Brook looked up into the clouds longingly. He and Franky could defend themselves and their ship easily, and two extra bodies to protect weren't that much of a problem. It felt good to guide fresh pirates on their way, of course, but there was always the occasional hotshot that came by thinking he could claim Brook or Franky's bounty, or even get their hands on the Thousand Sunny. Each time, they'd leave in both disappointment and pain. Except that one kid that wanted to be a pirate. He kept coming by asking to see the Sunny, but nobody got that privilege. He was an innocent kid with a big smile, but no chances would be taken with that. Every time he came by, he never attacked or threatened, he just asked like a child asking for candy. He wanted to be a pirate so badly. It was written all over his face- "Aha!" Brook exclaimed, going towards the very town that Luffy had first encountered Bellamy. That's where the boy lived. Arata Seka, and his elder sister, Ayumi Seka. A shipwright and a medic. How fortunate for... Giru. Honestly, getting the kid out of his hair was the main objective.


	10. Preparedness cont

Immediately, Brooke was greeted by Arata. The boy zipped up to his face, not at all scared of his skeletal appearance. "BROOOOOK!" the boy exclaimed, jumping up and down. "You came to see me?! That's awesome, A pirate came to my house! You never come over, I always have to findyouwheneverIcomeovertoseeyoualmostlikeyouhidefromme-"

Brook put a skeletal finger up to Arata's mouth. "Slow down, my boy."

Arata put his hands up behind his head, giving a large smile, "Sorry!"

Arata had eaten the Sonic Sonic fruit in his youth. As a result, he could move at the speed of sound and Brook assumed he could also create sonic booms and things of that nature. He thought the boy was a bit too... immature, to be trained by him or Franky, so he never got around to asking about it

At this time, Arata's elder sister Ayumi came to the door. She always accompanied Arata for his own protection. "Good Evening, Brook."

Brook tipped his hat to her. "Good Evening to you as well, Miss Ayumi. I came to see if the two of you would like to join a pirate crew."

Mist had deconstructed both of the pistols, recreating them with flame and lightning dials, as well as mana dials. Finishing the last bit of welding required, he loaded the guns and took a test shot at the nearby mountain wall with the flame gun. The recoil was so fierce that Mist's arm jerked back as if he were elbowing someone behind himself, a sharp pop resonating from his shoulder. The bullet itself rocketed out at the speed of sound, a glimpse of flame being the first indication that a bullet was indeed fired. The second indication being a crater of 3 inches in circumference left in the mountainside. Mist stood in awe, rotating his shoulder cuff. A 13 millimeter bullet created a 3 inch crater. Mist walked over to inspect it better, finding that the crater was 2 inches in depth, and the bullet itself had penetrated a few inches deeper through the mountain. He couldn't retrieve it from there, so he backed up again to his original position and fired from the lightning infused gun. The recoil was virtually non-existant, even less than a regular gun would have. Watching the bullet move was like seeing a lightning strike, electricity trailing behind a bullet with a light blue aura. The bullet hit the mountain, but didn't make a crater. Instead, it dug through as if the mountain wasn't in it's way to begin with. Mist approached the hole, looking through. Even with his devil fruit enhanced eyes, he couldn't tell how deep the bullet had went... until he saw a spot of light down the thin tunnel. The bullet had bored a hole all the way through the mountain. Mist looked at the gun, then put it down and backed away slowly. He looked over at Giru, who was still meditating. Even so, his tentacles were moving quite rapidly. He was learning to use them.

"YOHOHOHOHO! I'm back, everyone! Mist, a moment please."

Two new crewmates before setting out sounded like a good idea. Especially a medic and a shipwright. Of course, it was Giru's decision whether or not to bring them aboard. Mist conveyed this to Brooke before returning to his workbench. Arata and Ayumi would have to wait until Giru came out of his trance.


	11. Timeskip

2 Months Later

Giru had come out of his trance to eat only three times in this span. While in trance, he learned to control these tentacles with the same degree as Akuma had, if not better. He had found a connection with mental stability to the tentacles, as Akuma's movements were erratic and unpredictable, similar to it's nature, while Giru's were much more stiff and calculated. Like flexing muscles, he could now harden the tentacles to block bullets and swords as Akuma had. Levitation was already relatively easy. He believed he was ready to set sail now.

Mist had deconstructed and reconstructed the rest of the guns and rebuilt them with Mana Dials. Through help from both Brooke and the notebook left by Usopp, Mist learned to learn Mana, an energy born from extreme concentration, akin to manipulating one's stamina. By sacrificing bits of stamina and focusing those bits, Mist could reuse the dials that normally would have been spent after one use, eliminating the need for a multitude o guns. Mist now had two Linebaugh .500 Pistols infused with Flame Dial/Lightning Dial, a Benelli M4 Shotgun infused with Freeze Dial, and an AK-12 Assault Rifle infused with Lightning Dial. Because he had chosen Mana as his 4th type of dial, he had to reuse Lightning, but considering the effect of lightning dials on bullets, this was best on a sniper rifle. He used half the extra time to get used to Mana, and the other half to do stamina training, seeing as he would need a lot.

Arata, instructed by Brooke, went to learn from and help Franky in the shipbuilding process. Franky had also sent a submarine to Galley La in order to have extra hands to build the ship, so it was nearly completed. Arata's super speed was very helpful in this, so nobody protested his child-like nature when building. While most people had cigarettes in their mouths, Arata had Pocky.

Ayumi, being a medic, didn't have much to do in this setting but tend to anyone that got hurt while building, which accumulated to only pulling out splinters since this team was so experienced. In this, she revealed her ability. Rather than using tweezers, all of the splinters were enveloped in a lavender light, removed from people by Telekinesis.

Eventually, Giru stood at the edge of the water. Looking up at the ship. It wasn't a gigantic Man-O-War, but it was nothing to laugh at. Impressive, indeed. Franky jumped down, dusting off his giant robotic hands. "Well, she's all done. Like you asked, the features aren't cola powered." Franky said, with a hint of sadness in his voice. Giru struggled to not roll his eyes. "Hm. Thanks. So, what ARE all the features?"

" _DID YOU PUT A JACUZZI IN THE CAPTAIN'S CABIN LIKE I ASKED?!"_

Giru's eyes gave off a dim red light. Franky stroked his chin in fascination. 'Huh... I think he just supressed that other voice in him...'

"Well, she's built for attack more than escape or stealth. Seriously durable. Can take two headbutts from a Sea King easy. The Adam Wood is coated with a non-flammable gel that'll soak in, make the wood fire proof. You'll be a little slow, but she handles good. The Sunny went off the skills of the navigator, but this ship will go off the skills of it's marksman. I overheard the mute guy talkin' to Brooke, so I snagged some of those mana whatsits and built them into the cannons. There's a panel near the wheel where he can place his hands to feed stamina into them. Gotta say, it'll be hell on his body. But, we still need a name for your ship. I was talkin to this one super moody emo guy about it and he said Omega Keres."

Giru pondered the name. "Omega, the last letter of the Greek Alphabet, signifying the end. I like it, but what is Keres?"

Franky looked over to a guy eating his lunch, waving him over. "YO! WHAT'S A KERES!?"

"GODS OF VIOLENT DEATH YOU NORMIE!"

Franky turned to Giru, shrugging. Giru nodded. "I like the name. Who is that guy?"

Franky waved him off. "Ehh, some wannabe emo, talking about his brother killed all his family to get a sharing gun."

"A what?"

"I dunno."


	12. *Pause in Story for Descriptions*

Giru Donogaka_

Height: 6'1

Age: 21

Weight: 200 lbs(bulk of tentacles, tail, and golden 'horns'= extra 30 lbs)

Giru has pure white unkempt hair, and his eyes are black where they should be white, with red irises. There are golden 'horns' at his hair line. His skin is gray. Giru's torso has a pattern shaped like a muscle shirt, with alternating black and red stripes. Golden 'ribs' protrude from his sides, three on both sides. There is a black wrap around his neck similar to a scarf, yet with no hanging length. He has a yellow sash around his waist and wears baggy black Gi pants and black Tabi. There are six black tentacles protruding from his back, each with a red spike at the end. He has a thick tail that starts at his waist, that is grey with black and red rings at different intervals, and golden spikes on the red rings. His arms are wrapped in white bandages.

Mist_

Height: 6'0

Weight: 138(really skinny /)

Age: 22

Mist has sandy tan hair that is swept over to the left and slightly tanned skin. His eyes have no irises, instead have green crosshairs with the pupil at the center. He has a black headband with green zigzags. Mist wears a thin purple trench coat that hangs down the front and back, with space cut out for his legs at the sides. Underneath this is a thin black longsleeve shirt with a green X across the middle. He wears lavendar dress pants and brown Geta sandals. He has a brown ammo belt at his waist.

Ayumi Seka_

Height: 5'9

Weight: 142

Age: 21

Ayumi has black, back length straight hair and bright Hazel eyes. She has a fair complexion. She wears large red rim glasses, and an orange tie. Ayumi wears a white shortsleeve button down shirt and a black slacks and loafers. Ayumi has an 80cm bust, 62cm waist, and 78cm hips. (I'm not a pervert i swear)

Arata Seka_

Height: 5'6

Weight: 133

Age: 17

Arata has deep blonde hair and a fair complexion, as well as grey eyes. He wears orange goggles with black lenses on his head, for use at high speed. He wears a gold amulet on a brown leather strap. Arata wears a black jumpsuit with wide white lines going down the sides of the arms and front of the legs, as well as a white zipper and collar. There are orange pockets on the chest of the jumpsuit. He wears brown gloves and work boots, and a black and orange tool belt with a Sun belt buckle.

Omega Keres_

The deck of the ship is 35 yards long from stern to bow, and 20 yards wide(at furthest point) from port to starboard being in an oval shape. The hull is semiovular(semi oval), making the entire ship a large semioval when viewed from the side, as are most wooden ships. The sails are grey, and the entirety of wooden objects are orange-brown. Two rows of 9 cannons are lined on each side(making 18 cannons on each side, making 36 cannons in total). The captain's cabin is close to the stern, of course, being positioned in front of the wheel on a raised platform 17 feet high off the deck, accessed by stairs on the starboard side. The crew quarters are in a door next to these stairs, leading to other inward doors for potential rooms for crew members. The Port is adorned with a sculpture of a formless black creature sticking it's head out, as if trying to escape the ship. The creatyre has pure white eyes and jagged teeth.


	13. And then there were 4

"The Shadow Keeper Pirates aboard the Omega Keres. Huh. A little on the edgy side, but what the hell. Thanks, Franky. Do I owe you anything?" Giru asked, knowing money wouldn't be the answer. But he had a feeling...

"12 barrels of Cola. Next time you see me, you should have at least 3."

Giru rolled his eyes this time. Still, 12 barrels of Cola for a battleship wasn't bad. "It's a deal then." He responded, stretching out his hand to shake. Franky held his large, robotic hand up to eject the smaller hand, but Giru shook his head. 5 of the 6 tentacles wrapped around his hand, making it much thicker and larger, equal to the size of Franky's. They shook hands.

Mist, having all his guns slung around his body, gave a bow to Brooke for all his help. Brooke lifted his head. "Now now, none of that. The only thanks I'll accept is you becoming an infamous First Mate. Go on. Your captain is waiting."

Mist nodded before walking over towards Giru. Both of them nodded at each other before jumping onto the ship, landing on the edge and turning around to wave at Brooke, Franky, and the Galley-La shipwrights. Brooke cupped his skeletal hands around his mouth shouting up to the two, "OH, I FORGOT TO MENTION! I FOUND A SHIPWRIGHT AND A DOCTOR FOR YOUR CREW!"

As Brooke said this, a brown, yellow and white blur was seen running into the shipyard, followed by Ayumi who was merely walking as a multitude of duffel bags and burlap sacks floated around her head. The blur jumped over the water and ran directly up the side of the ship, knocking Giru and Mist into the water.

Saved by the Galley-La men, Giru and Mist knelt coughing on the ground. Arata sat where Giru and Mist once stood, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "READY TO SET SAIL, CAP'N!"

Ayumi levitated her and Arata's bags up onto the boat, then looked over at Giru and Mist. "I apologize for my brother's behavior. I am Ayumi Seka, a medical professional. He is Arata Seka, a well trained shipwright."

Giru stared at the ground in petty anger over being knocked into the water. "Mist, shoot him."

After a short debate about whether or not Giru was serious, he and Mist returned to the boat. All four crew members waved to those that had built this ship as they sailed off towards South Blue.

"So. A mechanic and a medic. Those are important, but until we have a Navigator we'll be wandering around aimlessly, and until we have a chef we'll be eating plain fruit and vegetables."

Arata frowned. "Awww, but what about fiiiish!?"

Giru looked over to him, questioning his maturity due to the tone of his voice. "Have you ever scaled, gutted, cleaned, then seasoned and cooked a fish?"

Arata shook his head.

"Then no."

Ayumi folded her arms. "So, 'captain', " she said with a hint of sass.

"Why'd you say it like-" Giru started, but Ayumi cut him off, "What exactly is your goal here? Why become a pirate? Why 'Shadow Keeper' and 'Omega Keres'?"

Giru folded his arms as well. His tentacles wavered behind him, as if saying 'know your place'. "Quite simply, I'm going to kill the Celestial Dragons."


	14. Suicide Mission?

Ayumi took a step back out of shock. "You can't be serious. Nobody would even dare SAY something like that!"

Giru raised an eyebrow, "I believe I just did". He felt proud of that little exchange. He believed it brought a little fear or respect to his persona. Either worked.

Arata was now nervously rubbing his left arm, silently thinking as the exchange took place. Ayumi, however... "What makes you think you can kill them and get out alive?!"

Giru shrugged.

"How will you even get TO them!?"

He shrugged again.

Ayumi sighed out of frustration. "I won't, nor will I let my brother, go on a suicide mission. I assumed you wanted to become pirate king or something, not become the most wanted man on earth."

Giru looked out over the water silently for a moment before turning his gaze, though not his head, to Ayane. "You done?" He asked with a tinge of irritation. Ayane folded her arms and leaned against the mast.

"Go ahead."

Giru recounted the events of the last 13 years and month of his life. Money seemed to be the driving factor in all of it, and who owned the most money? Who had the most influence on government decision? Who was responsible for making money more important than your own son?

Ayumi's eyes had a tinge of pink to them. Not as if she were ill, but as if there were psychic barriers over her tearducts. "Okay. I understand."

She unfolded her arms and reached out to hug Giru, who took two steps back, "Uh, no."

Giru's eyes suddenly flashed bright red and a big smile spread over his face as he dove into Ayane's hug, cuddling his face to her breasts. " _WE NEED A HUG, GIRU_!"

Eyes no longer red, Giru rubbed the side of his face with a fist print in it. "You know, if you're going to be a jackass, the least you could do is stick around for the repercussions."

" _I promise to maybe try_."

"I hate you."

Ayumi dusted off her hands before placing them on her hips. "So. Where are we going from here?"

Giru flexed his jaw before speaking. "South Blue. Dubbed the weakest sea. Right now, we're sitting ducks. So long as we steer clear of other ships, we'll live long enough to make it there."

Arata sat on the starboard ledge, kicking his legs. "Sis, didn't you say you hate the Dragons too?" He asked, confusion in his voice. Ayumi looked off to the side nervously, "Th-that was just words. I would never have acted on them, though!"

Giru rubbed his nose. "Ugh, smells like hypocrisy in here."

Later that same day, everyone had been listening to their stomachs growling for quite a while. Everyone ended up in the storage room after a while. "So..." Giru started, leaning his head over at Ayumi, "You wouldn't know how to cook-"

Giru leaned back to dodge a slap. "A simple /No/ would have sufficed." Giru said nonchalantly. He was too busy being condescending to notice a psychic projection fist above his head.

After Ayumi finished her rant about gender, and the large knot on Giru's head subsided, everyone had to make do with simple fruit, raw vegetables, and bread. Arata refused to eat his vegetables, though.


	15. The fun begins!

After two weeks of poor sailing and bland food, land was a sight for sore eyes. After a few bumps and scrapes, the crew finally docked correctly and went ashore. Giru explained as they walked off the dock, "If we remained on course, we should be at Alabasta. If we tell the people here that we're friendly to non-world government people, we should be in the clear."

Mist tapped his shoulder, then hand signed. " _Mist says Alabasta is supposed to be a desert_." translated Akuma. Giru sighed, "I thought so. Well, we're at the wrong place, then. I don't see a sign anywhere stating the name of the town, though."

They all stepped onto solid ground, slowing their stride as the people stared at them. Giru realized it was because of him, but it was too late at this point to do anything about it. They stopped as the villagers started to surround them, all except Arata becoming defensive. Giru's tentacles rose up like snakes, the red conical spikes ready to strike. Mist's hand rested on his Flame Linebaugh. Ayane's hands were enveloped in psychic energy. Arata opened a butterscotch candy and popped it into his mouth.

An elderly man came to the front of the circle, walking on a silver cane. "We prayed for saviors... and now a demon comes to our land? Has the devil sent you to aid us? Must we give our SOULS to be rid of this CURSE!?" The old man asked, holding the cross on his necklace. Giru wanted to laugh, but this was a serious situation.

'Akuma, will that cross hurt us?'

' _Well, not if he just touches us with it. But if he throws it, it'll hurt more than it normally would_.'

Giru looked the man in the eye. "I'm no agent of the devil. I'm just a pirate that's sailed the wrong way."

The man fell to his knees, bowing. "Please, I beg of you, help us!"

The rest of the villagers followed suit, bowing row after row. Giru rolled his eyes. "I don't have any money or a big army. What do you want from me?"

The man lifted his head and pointed to a house atop a cliff, about 30 meters high. "It appeared a month ago, and every night horrible creatures emerge! Half of our village has died already. Please, destroy it and whatever is within!"

Giru rolled his neck around. "Well, we need the experience if we're going for the dragons. Come on, crew."

At the base of the cliff, the crew stood rigid, staring up in anticipation. "The creatures come out at night. Should we wait until then?" Ayane asked. "I'm debating it. If we give them time to realise we're here, they may plan around us. But we know nothing about them, so attacking first is a reckless choice. "

"Well which choice will we pick?" asked arata, still swishing his butterscotch around.

"Well, we're going to kill the Celestial Dragons. Any crew with a goal like that is obviously reckless until the end!" Giru exclaimed with a smirk. He grabbed Mist and began levitating at high speed up to the top of the cliff, while Arata simply ran up the side, and Ayane made a psychic platform and rose up. Adrenaline now rushing, Giru decided to completely throw caution to the wind and break through the wall, doing so with his tentacles. as the dust from the shattered wooden wall cleared, the crew was face to face with a group of humans clothed in black fur and leather. Each except one held a different weapon. Four for four.

All were silent.

The silence was broken by the commotion of combat. Giru faced the largest one, who weilded a giant, spiked sledgehammer. Mist faced the swordsman, who had a very wide blade. Ayane faced their Marksman, who used Flintlocks. Arata faced one who seemed to have no weapon. All spread away from each other for their seperate- and first- serious battles.


	16. The First Battles(1)

Mist felt a little dumb fighting a swordsman. Guns versus swords? That wouldn't give him much of a challenge. Then again, underestimating an opponent could mean the death of him. So which gun would he use? The sniper rifle was to slow to reload, and at a close distance it was more dead weight than anything. A combination of linebaughs would do nicely, but in case the swordsman got too close, Mist would want to use the shotgun. Well, he had all but the sniper with him. He pulled out the lightning linebaugh and the ice benelli, steadying himself for combat. The swordsman had gotten distance from the rest of his crew, so it was possible he needed the extra space.

Mist rolled to the right as a sword came swinging down at his left shoulder. It chipped off the leather of his coat, but nothing more. As Mist got up from his roll, he aimed the pistol in the direction the sword came from. Nothing there. He slowly turned, searching for his opponent amidst the trees of the woods surrounding the cliff. In a way, it almost made him laugh. He had eyes that could never miss, but if he couldn't see his opponent, what good were they? Of course, his opponent didn't know that, so he was probably hiding out of instinct. Anyone would keep themselves out of a marksman's line of fire.

"Hehehe..." a voice chuckled out. Mist couldn't believe it. He had actually given away his position with his voice. "Wondering why you can't find me-" He was actually about to explain his ability? What a moron. Interrupting his speech, Mist fired the pistol in the voice's direction. The bullet zipped through the trees, a blue trail of electricity trailing 5 inches behind it. The swordsman fell out of the tree, clenching his bleeding shoulder in pain. "AAARGH! You BASTARD!"

Mist wished he could have told the man how dumb he was, but he doubted he understood sign language. He aimed between the man's eyes and pulled the trigger again. Looks like it was a dumb fight after all.

Mist vs Swordsman

Winner

Mist

Ayumi vs Marksman

Ayumi couldn't help but notice all the bandits splitting up, taking their fights elsewhere. There had to be some reason to that. She'd have to find out later. As her soon to be defeated opponent stopped, turning towards her, she blew a strand of hair out of her face and asked, "So why are you all splitting up? Why separate yourselves when you should have some sort of teamwork?"

The marksman smiled a devillish smile. "Big Al needs his space when he's fightin'. That freak in your crew's gonna get the shit kicked out of him! And you? Well, I think we'll have some fun together, once i blow off your kneecaps!" He exclaimed, taking shots at her legs. The bullets bounced harmlessly off of a wide pink translucent wall. She huffed and folded her arms, putting one hand on her temple, "Honestly, could you be any more vulgar? And why is it the very first thing you think to do is to incapacitate then rape me? Can't you think of anything more clever? On second thought, don't answer that."

8 pink shurikens appeared in the air around Ayumi, spinning at a high velocity. She stretched her hand out forward, causing them to shoot toward the marksman at high speed. Her eyes widened in surprise as only two of the 8 shurikens hit him. "Shocked?" He asked, a grin on his face and blood leaking from the two gashes on his arms. "My bullets are made from seastone! Your little devil fruit won't save you!"

Ayumi held up her finger in a matter-of-fact way, "One, my ability is no devil fruit, so I don't know how you shot those down. Two, you're the one bleeding."

"SH-SHUT UP! I'LL MAKE SURE TO DESTROY YOUR VOICE BOX WHEN I SKULL-FUCK YOU!" he shouted again, shooting at her once more. The bullets all bounced off the psychic wall once more. Ayumi sighed, "Again with the vulgarity? Do you need a counselor? Have you ever been with a woman?"

The man threw a bomb now, which covered the area in smoke.

"Touched a nerve, there?" She asked, slyly covering her smile.

Her smile faded as a sharp pain entered her stomach. She created a bubble around herself and quickly pushed it outward, pushing everything away. Ayumi looked down to see a dagger lodged in her abdomen.

Arata vs Unknown

The run over here was boring. Arata was used to zipping around at high speeds, so lagging behind this guy required effort to be slow. His butterscotch was almost gone, and Ayumi had taken all his sweets to make sure he ate one at a time. The man finally stopped running, so Arata stretched his legs in preparation for a fight. The man didn't say anything, he just made a karate movie pose and did the 'come' hand movement. Arata wasn't sure about how he should fight, so he pulled out his monkey wrench, hoping it would suffice as a weapon. He looked between the wrench and the man multiple times. "So, um... do we take turns or...?" He asked, scratching his head. The man looked repulsed, "Are you a child? This is no game, you're fighting to live!" He exclaimed. He stomped on the ground, causing a block of stone to jump up. He then kicked it, sending it flying at Arata. Arata just put his hands behind his head and began vibrating his body at the speed of sound, passing through the block of stone. "S-s-s-o-o-o i-i-i-is i-i-i-t m-m-m-y-y-y-y tu-u-urn?" Arata asked, the vibration distorting his voice. He held the wrench above his head and zipped in front of the man, swinging it diagonally into his head. The man's feet became rooted into the earth so he wouldn't be knocked backward, but he did get knocked down, his knees remaining upright. Arata smiled sheepishly amd put his hands behind his head, "You fold like paper!".


	17. The First Battles(2)

Giru vs Big Al

This big dude with the sledgehammer didn't move as the rest of his crew dispersed. He must be clumsy, or have a large attack range. Giru levitated 3 feet off the ground, raising his tentacles into striking position and leaning forward slightly, letting his arms hang. "Before we start, Who are you and why are you attacking this village at night?" Giru asked, hoping he'd be able to properly tell the villagers what had happened.

The man gave a hearty laugh, one expected from a typical pirate. "What a stupid strategy. You think you can get off by pretending you aren't the freak attacking? I may be big, but I'm no IDIOT!" He swung his giant sledgehammer down as he spoke the last word, right above Giru's head. Giru just levitated a bit to the left. "Wait. You aren't the one killing people in this village?" He asked, hoping he was bluffing. "I ALREADY TOLD YOU THAT WON'T WORK!" the man replied, swinging at Giru's midsection from the right. Giru just levitated up a little more and pulled his legs up, now squatting atop the hammer. "Just listen for a second. We came to kill whoever was terrorizing these people."

The man gave a sigh out of his nose. "You expect me to believe a demon shows up at the house on the cliff where the 'killer' lives, and was trying to be a hero?"

Giru jumped off the hammer, making sure to get out of reach. "It sounds like a lie, I know. But I'm not your opponent."

The man placed the giant sledgehammer on his shoulder, resting his left hand on his hip. "So. You aren't the one attacking. Let's say I believe that. Why are you here then?"

Giru stopped levitating, letting his tentacles hang behind him. "My crew and I sailed in the wrong direction and ended up here. We were told there were monsters terrorizing the village below, and decided it would be good to get a fight in."

The man rubbed his scruffy beard in thought. "Hmm... Alright. I'll buy it. But if you aren't the one doing this, who is?"

"Guess we'll find out." Giru said, folding his arms and looking up in thought. _"Uhh, aren't you two love birds forgetting something?"_ Akuma said. Big Al looked confused. "I'll explain later. What are we forgetting, Akuma?"

 _"Well, both of your crews are still duking it out."_

"OH FUCK!" Big Al and Giru exclaimed at the same time.

Giru vs Big Al

Result

Stalemate

Ayumi cursed at herself for getting cocky, keeping up a shield to avoid being hit by surprise again. "Okay. It isn't fatal. I can fix this later." She muttered, trying to keep herself calm.

The voice of the marksman came out again through the smoke, a hint of pride attatched to it. "Surprised, bitch? I have the power of the smoke smoke fruit! Now with this cloud around us, you can't tell WHERE I will strike from next! I am the ultimate marksman! Kyeeehahahah!"

Ew. That laugh was horrible. Ayumi wrapped a psychic wall around her midsection to stop the bleeding, then flipped her hair behind her back. "You're a bigger idiot than I thought." She said angrily. "Watch your mouth, princess!" The man cried out. "As soon as you come out of that little bubble of yours, you're done for!"

Ayumi remained silent now as she spread her arms out, making her bubble wider. She then clapped her hands directly overhead, making the bubble fold over backwards and capture all the smoke in the area, including the marksman. "Wh-what! Let me out!" He demanded, condensing back into human form and banging on the bubble. He pulled out his gun and fired, but the bullet bounced around inside the bubble and hit him instead. He screamed out in pain.

"Oh my. That looked like it hurt."

Her eyes held a darker, angrier shade of pink now. "This will hurt more."

With the seastone bullet lodged in his body, the marksman couldn't revert to smoke form. On the inside surface of the bubble, knives in the exact same shape as the dagger Ayumi was stabbed with protruded. The marksman fell over, repeatedly shouting in pain as different knives were stabbed into him. Ayumi slowly clenched her hand, causing the bubble to shrink in size. The marksman inside hurriedly pulled out another dagger, trying to cut the bullet out of himself, crying due to the pain.

"AYUMI!" Giru yelled out from afar, trying to get her attention.

Ayumi didn't turn around. "I've already won, Giru. Go see if Arata needs help."

Giru teleported in front of her, grabbing her arm. "AYUMI, STOP! THESE GUYS AREN'T THE CULPRITS!"

Big Al stared into the psychic torture ball, then looked over at Ayumi and slowly backed away.

Ayumi looked irritated beyond belief. "HE STABBED ME!"

"HE'S NOT THE CULPRIT THOUGH! LOOK AT WHAT YOU'RE DOING TO AN INNOCENT MAN!" Giru yelled. Ayumi glanced over at the ball of death she created. "He... He talked about raping me..."

Giru let go of her arm."Then continue. Kill a man who thought he was fighting a murderer because he threatened you."

Ayumi didn't respond, but the pink faded from her eyes and the ball disappeared, the marksman inside falling to the ground. He ran over to Big Al, complete with tears and a runny nose, and hid behind him. Big Al just looked... shocked. "You, uh... got quite a lady there, demon man."

Giru ignored him."We have to tell Arata and Mist that they don't have to fight."

Ayumi sighed and pulled a butterscotch candy out of her blazer pocket.

Ayumi vs Marksman

Result

Therapy

Arata was bored of this fight now. None of the attacks could hurt him, and his candy was gone. He just vibrated through everything and hit the man every once in a while. Maybe he could run and get a candy from Ayumi then hurry back here. His opponent was bleeding bad, and Arata didn't really want to continue anymore. "You... *pant, pant* will not best me, child!" The man said, slapping the ground. Stones came up and trapped Arata's feet, but again, all he had to do was vibrate. "Hey, I wanna try something." Arata said, putting his goggles over his eyes. "Sis says I have the Sound Sound fruit, which is why I can move fast. But, like, always wanted to see if i could make a sonic boom with my voice."

The man looked frightened, creating a dome of earth around himself. Arata jumped up with a giddy smile on his face, gave a chuckle, and screamed with all his might. The sound came out of his mouth like rings, expanding as they continued down toward the dome. It started to crumble, but not very quickly. Arata landed back on the ground, wiping his nose with a smile. "I knew I could! Thanks, you can come out now!"

"Arata! I have a butterscotch!" Ayumi called out. It was faint, but Arata could make out the word butterscotch. That was all he needed. He zipped back to claim his prize as inside the dome, the man lay unconscious.

Arata vs unknown fruit user

Winner

Arata


	18. Almost A Truce

Mist had sat around on a log waiting to hear the voices of his crew so he would know where to meet them. Of course, he couldn't call out to them or anything, so his only choice was to sit and wait. As he did, he glanced over to the dead body from time to time. It was weird how comfortable he was around bodies. Well, he was a bounty hunter after all. It still amazed him, though. There was a human being, dead, right in front of him. A perfectly round bullet hole right between his eyes, with the slightest tinge of burnt flesh around it. Ah, he would need to see if the town below had bullets.

As the sound of Arata's supersomic screech reached him, Mist instinctively jumped up off his log, guns ready. Realizing it was his crewmate, he holstered his guns and jogged in that direction, hoping everyone else would be there as well.

Indeed, as Arata and Mist rejoined their captain, Ayumi was there too. But so was the marksman for the other crew, and their captain. Mist kept his hand on his Flame Linebaugh just in case.

"Well, your crew's all here," said Al, scratching his head in confusion, "but mine ain't."

The obvious confused expression on Mist's faced prompted Giru to explain. "These guys weren't the culprits. They were waiting in that house to ambush whoever is."

Mist's eyes widened. He looked back in the direction he came from, pulling on his collar nervously. Ayumi could tell something was amiss. '/Mist, are you alright?/' she asked him telepathically.

'/No./' Mist responded. '/I killed the guy I was up against./'

Ayumi's eyebrows now raised. She called to Giru telepathically nown relaying this information. Giru cursed under his breath.

"So, uh, where're my guys?"

Arata put his hands behind his head, monkey wrench in hand. "I think he's unconscious. He's in a rock ball thing back where i came from."

Al sighed, shaking his head. "I... gotta train him or some'n. And what about Jinta?" He asked, looking at Mist.

Giru stepped forward, pushing Mist behind him. "Jinta... is dead."

Al's jaw hung open, and his grip on the giant sledgehammer tightened. After a few seconds of silence, his slack-jawed disbelief turned into tight lipped anger. "Well I hope you don't think we're all peachy keen anymore. It was HIM, wasn't it?!" He asked furiosly, pointing his hammer at Mist. Giru nodded slowly. "Don't let your anger take you over. One of your crew is unconscious, one is dead, and one will need to chamge his underwear if Ayumi even looks in his direction. Even if you beat me, you'll have three unique opponents next on your hands."

Al slammed the hammer down, making a pothole. "ENOUGH TALK! EYE FOR AN EYE, SHIT-HEAD! NOW YOU GONNA FIGHT ME OR YOU GONNA LET ME CRUSH THAT WHITE HAIRED BASTARD'S BRAINS IN!?"

Giru levitated slightly off the ground, slouching forward and tentacles raised to strike.

Al's marksman tried to aim his gun at Giru, but his arms and legs were trembling in fear. Every time he tried to focus on Giru, his eyes wandered over to Ayumi. Noticing this, Ayumi flipped her hair and removed her glasses, eyes bright pink. He dropped the gun and started backing away, sweat already forming on his forehead.

Giru leaned, as if he was about to take off in high speed flight. "Don't do this." He pleaded Al, but his words fell on deaf ears. Al brought his hammer up over his head and swung down.


	19. A Demon's A Demon

As the massive sledgehammer came down, Giru strafed left, now levitating just a foot off the ground. Al caught Giru by the shirt and attempted to slam him headfirst into the ground, but Giru used his tentacles to give himself leverage, stabbing them into the ground and pushing along with the force of the slam, twisting Al's arm behind his back. Giru held it there, struggling against Al's massive strength. "Stop this."

Al ignored the plea. Using his other arm, he elbowed Giru in the face. The pain and force caused Giru to let go, stumbling back and holding his face. This window was taken as Al slammed the sledgehammer into Giru's left side, launching him into a nearby oak tree. The bark was cracked and splintered as he made contact. ' _Holy shit. A few more of those and we're fucked_.' Akuma stated. "No kidding." Giru coughed out, getting to his feet. Al was directly overhead at this time, attempting to swing down again. Giru levitated to his height, wrapping Al's body in tentacles before spinning and launching him headfirst into the same tree. "I DON'T HAVE A REASON TO KILL YOU! THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE!"

Al gritted his teeth, shaking the splinters and debris off his body before clenching the sledgehammer tighter. "YA AIN'T GONNA KILL ME ANYWAY, YA LITTLE FREAK!" was his reply as he jumped, swinging the hammer diagonal upwards. Giru wanted to continue pleading with him to stop, but he understood that it wasn't going to happen. One of Al's own had died by Mist's hand. Any further and it would seem like Giru was afraid to fight. "Very well."

Giru teleported behind Al and 2 of his tentacles shot forward, the conical red spikes ready to impale. Both of them were met with the business end of a sledgehammer. Al had used the force of the upwards swing to spin around and come back down with the hammer. He was skilled with that thing. The impact was mind numbingly painful, as the tentacles were a mass of muscle with no bone to absorb the shock. Giru clenched his fists and bit down on his lip in an attempt to hold back the pain while wrapping Al in the tentacles he had just slammed. It hurt to move them, but at this point they were already damaged, so they were expendable.

Al was no moron, however. He grabbed both the damaged muscular limbs, using them to yank Giru up towards him. Giru's breath caught in his throat as he was turned around and pulled into the air. That caught air was instantly released when the top of the sledgehammer hit Giru's spine. Both he and Al fell to the ground, however Al landed on his hands and knees, while Giru landed face down. The crew stared in awe, looking over to Al and preparing for combat. Al slowly got to his feet, breathing heavily and using his hammer for support. He spit on the ground next to Giru, then gave out a hearty chuckle. "Ain't so chatty now, are ye, ya wee prick."

Al's attention shifted to Mist. "Now. It's your turn, lad."

He hefted the hammer over his shoulder. Rotating his shoulders. Mist drew his pistols, aiming at Al. He could shoot him before he got close, right? He didn't show any exceptional speed just now. He could pull the trigger and end this.

"MIST, NO!"

Mist lowered his guns.

Al turned around, scowling. "Yer still breathin'? Lemme fix that!"

The hammer came down again, but stopped just short of Giru's head. Giru was now kneeling on one foot, holding the hammer up with both hands. "That. REALLY. Fucking hurt. But not as much as this will."

4 tentacles wrapped Al's arms and legs, forcing him to drop the hammer.

" _Time to go for a ride!_ " Akuma piped.

Giru teleported directly upwards to the maximum range, then did it again, then again. He repeated this until his crew looked like dots on the ground, then looked Al in his eyes. "You brought this on yourself."

Giru spun clockwise, but his body was sideways. After reaching a strong centrifugal force, he threw Al down to the ground.

The burly man instinctively spread his arms and legs out to slow his fall, and angled himself to land in the trees. He was smarter than Giru thought.

It was at this point that Akuma's voice returned to Giru's head, only this time echoed many times over and distorted. ' _What are you doing? Why aren't you going? He's going to survive. You can't let him survive. Kill him. Kill him. He's within range. Teleport to him and knock him away from the trees_.'

It was frightening, to say the least. "Akuma, it's over. He'll be unconscious, even if he survives."

' _ **Not good enough**_.'

"Wh... what?"

The words 'Not good enough' echoed in tortuous repitition through Giru's head. It was painful. It was also obvious that Akuma was living up to the name of his fruit.

'Unconscious is not good enough.

' _ **K I L L. H I M**_.'


	20. Hell Of A Climax

Over and over and over. Giru couldn't count how many times Akuma said to kill the man. His head throbbed and his ears rung. Giru's mouth even started foaming as he gripped his head, in too much pain to attempt to quiet the demon inside. His eyes glazed over and the pain stopped. His body went limp in the air, but still remained levitating.

Then he became a blur.

Levitating towards Al at maximum speed, Giru's face was plastered with an ear to ear smile, his tentacles rigid behind him. The usual snake-like motions they made were replaced with solid turns, as if made of bone now, creeping up into the air like inky black staircases. They all narrowed out then turned at a 30 angle, shooting forward at Al.

Then Giru hit the ground. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was his crew backing away in horror, and the last thing he heard was Akuma, in a cheery voice, say ' _Sweet Dreams_!'.

When he woke up, he was on his ship, with bandages and gauze wrapped around his head and torso. None of his crew was there, instead there were two people who Giru assumed were from the village. "Holy shit, " he whispered, gently touching his head, "That really fucking hurts."

One of the people turned to him. A blonde woman in a sundress. "You've finally come to. I suppose your sailor's tongue is to be expected."

Giru wanted to curse her out, but he assumed she was caring for him. "Why are you on my ship? I have a medic that's supposed to handle these kind of things."

The other person, a man in casual wear, turned to him, "Gee, that sure is an odd way of saying thank you."

Giru held back his tongue even more. "Thank. You."

"You're welcome," The man said. "A kid in a track suit brought you and some other guy here and asked us to take care of you, then disappeared in the blink of an eye."

'Arata.' Giru thought.

"He seemed really panicked. Kind of afraid."

Giru didn't like the sound of that. He tried to get up, but it was too painful. Especially at his back.

"Don't try to move. Your back's beat up worse than the rest of you. What hit you?"

Giru scoffed, looking over to the side, "A gorilla with a big hammer."

"YA GOT FUCKED OVER BY THAT GORILLA TOO, YA WEE PRICK!"

The curtain pulled back to reveal Al, both legs and an arm broken, his neck in a brace. Giru rolled his eyes, "I don't know if I'm glad you're alive or not."

"I'M SURE AS HELL GLAD THAT BEHEMOTH DIDN'T KILL YE, SO I CAN DO IT MESELF!"

Giru froze, contemplating that. "... Behemoth?"

"Oooh, the octopus freak is worried about his shitstain of a crew, is he? You'll see 'em again in HELL YA LILLY LIVERED SQUID!"

Giru was angry... well, angrier now. "MY SHITSTAIN OF A CREW KILLED, TRAUMATIZED, AND KNOCKED OUT YOUR CREW, AND BROUGHT YOUR SORRY ASS HERE!"

"SAY THAT AGAIN YA NO GOOD WORM SPINE SHITSTAIN!"

Both men stopped yelling now, their wounds pulsating in pain.

Giru had to do something. He couldn't just lay here and hope for the best. "Aku-" ... was that a good idea? After what just happened, was relying on Akuma a smart thing to do? Giru lost his mind with all the repitition Akuma put him through. "Uh, could you close the partition?"

The man closed the partition, but not before Giru and Al flipped each other off one last time. Whispering aloud, he laid back and said, "Akuma."

" _Yo yo my mans what's the haps_?"

"What the hell was that?"

" _It was slang my dude, get with the tiggity times._ "

"No. What was that during the fight? Why did you do that?"

" _Shiiiit, I don't know fam, I thought it would be cool to wriggity wreck him._ "

"I'm being ser-"

Giru sighed. There was no changing the way Akuma decided to behave. "Why. Did you do it."

" _Dude. Demon fruit. We've been over this. I'll drive you insane sometimes, figuratively and literally. Keeps you on your toes._ "

Giru pinched the bridge of his nose, which somehow hurt his head more. "Is there anything we can do to help the crew?"

" _Hmm... I could take over an-_ "

"No. I don't trust you right now."

 _"Then sit back and hope for the best._ "

Giru wanted to fold his arms, but that would hurt. So, he just laid back and hoped for the best.

Arata had ran back three times. Once for Giru, once for sledgehammer man, and once to get Mist some extra bullets. Mist was standing atop the house near the cliff, firing round after round from his pistols. He made the smart decision to first shoot out both the eyes, so now the behemoth was flailing blindly. Various sharp psychic projectiles cut through the beast's flesh, and supersonic shouts kept it disoriented. Altogether, they were doing damage slowly, but surely. Every once in a while they had to switch positions because the monster would determine their location from where the attacks came from. The beast was around 8 times the size of a bear, but it look human with some beastly properties. It couldn't put up much of a fight being blind and continuously stunned. Eventually, it lay on the grass, bleeding to death. All of them panted and slumped to the ground.

"Well, well, well." Someone said, clapping.

"Oh, great." Ayumi said with a tired and sarcastic tone.

"Please don't be discouraged. You did quite well. I'm grateful to you. Now I have an idea of what improvements I should make. Maybe throw in some echolocation and greater muscle capacity."

"Who are you?" Arata asked.

The person laughed. "An entrepreneur." They said. "And that's all you get. Hopefully we won't meet again."

Then, faster than even Arata could comprehend, they were gone.

Giru was proud that they did well. It did have only a beast's mentality, but they fought it and won. But the other person... "An entrepreneur, huh?"

Arata had his hands behind his head. "He said stuff about adding echolowhatsit and muscle calamity."

Ayumi gave Arata a butterscotch to shut him up. "Echolocation and muscle capacity."

Giru scratched his chin in thought. "Hmm... I may be grabbing at straws here, but over 30 years ago, people tried making their own devil fruits to sell to large armies. That may be why people have been disappearing, to be used as test subjects."

"Oh, way to crack the case ya fuckin two-bit detective."

Mist quickly pulled the partition back and raised his gun between Al's eyes.

" ** _NO_**!" Giru shouted, causing everyone to flinch. He looked Mist in the eye His voice was blending with Akuma's, and his left eye was glowing red. " ** _We fought. It's over. He's going to be wheeled off the ship and we're going to leave. We don't kill people we know are innocent."_**

He took a deep breath then exhaled, his voice and eye returning to normal. "If we do, we're no better than the dragons."


	21. To Victory and Loyalty

And that was it. Mist holstered his guns and Al was helped into a wheelchair by the two villagers, then wheeled off the ship. The chief of the village, who had first initiated contact with Giru, came aboard with two others, carrying crates. "We are grateful to you. We all heard the beastly roars coming from the cliff, as well as the beast's dying wails-"

Giru raised a hand to stop him. "No. Don't thank us. The reason your villagers were dying and going missing is because they were being abducted for experiments. The 'beast' that was killed was very likely one of your people."

The chief stepped back in horror. He clenched his jaw, surveying the room of pirates. "Well. I asked you to rid us of the menace, not to find our missing brethren."

He turned and left, nodding at his two followers to leave the crates.

"Well. This was an... experience." Giru said, laying back in his bed. "But, what have we learned?"

Arata raised his hand as if he were in a classroom. Giru wanted to laugh and roll his eyes at the same time. "Yes, Arata?"

"There's a person making devil fruits and kidnapping people to test them on."

Giru nodded. "And?"

"To control ourselves better?"

Giru stroked his chin, "That's actually true, though it wasn't what I had in mind."

Mist made some hand signs. Giru pointed to him. "Yes. We need to KNOW who our enemy is, not assume. Because of our headstrong rush in, we killed an innocent man and traumatized another."

Mist and Ayumi looked away from Giru in shame.

"Don't get me wrong, it's great knowing that you can do something of this magnitude. Ayumi, that guy will be waking up in a cold sweat for the next few months. It's my fault as well for leading the rush into battle."

Ayumi rested against a wall, placing a hand over her stab wound. Nothing vital was hit, but it was still painful.

Giru relaxed into the bed, resting his arms over his stomach. "Well... That's enough from me. It's best for us to set sail as soon as possible. Those crates have food in them, so we should be good to go.

Ayumi put a finger to her chin, "Really? You don't want to say goodbye to your dear sledgehammer friend?"

Giru rolled his eyes. "Get us out of here. The map is over there."

Mist took the map and walked out. Ayumi looked over to Arata, "Help me bandage my wound." She said, walking out. Arata saluted her, following behind.

When they were alone, Ayumi pulled out gauze and disinfectant. "Close the door." She told Arata, who did so. Ayumi sat on her bed, unbottoning the bottom three buttons on her shirt, rolling it up to inspect the stab wound. Arata immediately became worried, "A-are you gonna be okay?!" He asked, eyes already filling with tears. Ayumi winced as she dabbed the disinfectant onto the wound, then placed a thick cloth over it and began wrapping the gauze around her midsection with telekinesis. "I'm going to be fine, Arata. But what about you?"

Arata wiped his eyes, nodding. "I'm okay..."

Ayumi shook her head, "That's not what I meant. How are you feeling? About this ship? Our captain?"

Arata leaned against the door awkwardly. "I dunno... he has a good reason to be a pirate, but it's really dangerous..."

Ayumi stood up, placing her hands on Arata's shoulders. "Just say the word and we'll leave. I'm not too keen on him myself."

Arata raised an eyebrow, "But- but you-"

"I know, I know, I came along. But he's blunt, aggressive, cold... I'm not sure I want you around someone like that. Not to mention this so called 'Akuma', who's the embodiment of vulgar."

Arata stood up straight, but not in a way that would seem disrespectful. "That's not fair... He was stuck inside his own head for 13 years, and-"

"For all we know, that could be a lie to get sympathy."

"Even if it is, he was a slave to the Dragons, Ayumi."

Ayumi sat down again, finishing off the gauze wrapping. "It's just so reckless. I won't risk you getting hurt, or worse."

Arata's eyes were watering again, but this time from a mix of anger and hurt. "I-I'm... I'm not a baby, Ayumi!" He yelled, balling his fists. "I'm almost legally grown! I have devil fruit powers, and I'm gonna be a great shipbuilder like Franky! Captain Giru is hurting inside, and you just wanna cut him loose! Well even if you leave, I-I'm staying with him!"

Ayumi let him talk. She had never heard Arata yell, except for out of excitement or joy. After he finished, she folded her arms and crossed her legs. "I see. You always wanted to be a pirate, and now you are. So what if we get-"

"We'll fight our way out or we'll die trying!" Arata interrupted.

Ayumi nodded. "I guess you aren't a baby. Tell me, what 'legally grown' boy would let so much as the mention of candy sway him?"

Arata was now trembling, tears falling down his face. "... 'The celestial dragons are the worst example of life there can possibly be. If any person were to kill them, they would be the greatest person in history in my eyes.'. Isn't that what you said to me back when we were in school? When we were learning about the 'Glory of the celestial dragons'?"

Ayumi tapped her foot for a while, then uncrossed her arms. "Yes."

"So why not be a part of the greatest person in history's crew?"

Ayumi stood again and placed her hands on her hips, and began to speak, but Arata went before her, "Because he's mean spirited and Akuma is crazy and vulgar? Captain Giru has no control over Akuma, and how do you think you would be after spending 13 years in solitude, with your last memory being you were sold by your parents? Give him a chance, Sis."

And with that, Arata left the room.


	22. He calls himself?

200 miles north of the small island, the unknown man that had clapped for the crew's takedown slowly floated to the ground in front of a metallic hut, landing gracefully on one foot and raising his arms out to the side at chest level. With a flick of his wrist and a nod of his head, a golden cane and a top hat appeared in his hand and on his head respectively. "Well, we have a bit more data on our fruit. It takes away cognitive functioning, so our beasties are a little too easy to take down. And I can't believe you didn't think of this, but the eyes are too vulnerable. That also makes the beastly thinking a problem. I was thinking you could toss in some echolo-"

"YOU DON'T THINK I TRIED TO COMPENSATE FOR THAT!?" Yelled an elderly woman's voice. The man took two steps back, twirling his cane nonchalantly. "Temper temper, Jackie. I was only suggesting."

The old woman opened the door to the hut, arms folded. "You think I can just throw in a bat's ear and you've magically got a fix to that?"

The man chuckled, placing his cane on the ground again. "I was led to believe you were a witch. Isn't magic-"

She snatched the cane from him and attempted to hit him in the leg with it, but the cane deformed, stretching around the his leg and splitting in two, then becoming whole again on the other side of his shin. He tipped the rim of his top hat down with a smile, "Now now, let's not be violent."

He snapped his fingers and the cane disappeared. "So, let's hear what you're working on."

Jackie rolled her eyes and folded her arms again, "Like you suggested, I'm working on a fix to the beastly nature. Echolocation I know I can do, but whatever's messing with the subject's minds will take longer to figure out."

"Aahh, you are a gift. Anything else you need from me?"

Jackie looked up towards the clouds as she thought. "For one, a bigger lab. And better test subjects. That little village has been too easy. Not a good enough trial for improvements."

He nodded with a finger to his chin, taking note of her demands. "Understandable. I'll get to work on those."

He started to float away, but stopped 2 seconds later and returned to the ground. "Would you also like a black cat? Witches are fond of those, right?"

Jackie slapped her hand to her face, slowly sliding it down out of pure annoyance, "Ugh, God. "

The man took off his top hat and bowed.

"That's my name. Don't wear it out."


	23. Psych Issues

The crew sailed for three weeks, and each Island they came to was peaceful. There was nothing to get into battle about. Maybe a politician had an affair or was generally disliked, but overall nothing was worth confrontation. These islands were even friendly to pirates, so long as the pirates were friendly. So every few islands they came to, they would restock on dried and pre-cooked food, and head off again.

"I was expecting, I don't know, more. It's been almost a month with no confrontation." Said Giru.

" _Well, what did ya expect? You wanted to hop from battle to battle like Luffy?_ " Akuma chimed in. Giru scoffed. "Fuck off."

Ayumi gave a coy smirk, "You did, didn't you?"

Giru angrily got up and went back to his cabin.

Over the last weeks, Giru had kept mostly to himself. He knew something was wrong about that, that it wasn't the way to build trust with his crew. But he was just so... **angry** , **all** the time. The slightest comments set him off. He didn't want to interact more than giving simple orders.

Giru sat on his bed with his hands on his head. "Is this your doing, Akuma? Are you fucking with my emotions?"

" _Calm down, sunshine. I ain't screwin' with your feelings. That's all on you_."

Giru stood up with a jerk as if he was arguing with someone else, "BULLSHIT! THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL I'M JUST FUCKING ANGRY LIKE THIS FOR NO DAMN REASON!"

" _I call bullshit on your bullshit. I gave you psychology books, figure it out yourself_ ," replied Akuma.

Giru slammed his fist into his door. The adam wood resisted breaking, but it did splinter a bit. "DON'T GIVE ME THAT SHIT! TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!"

There was no response.

"...Akuma?"

Again, silence.

"AKUMA! DON'T YOU FUCKING IGNORE ME!"

There was so much rage swelling in Giru's chest. He couldn't control it. He hated it. He wanted to feel... GOOD. Happy, joyful, cheerful, gleeful. ONE positive emotion. But for now, all there was, was rage. He slung his bed into the wall, then continued to break and throw whatever he could with both his arms and tentacles.

'My crew will hear me.' He thought. 'I should stop. I have to be a leader. They need to know they can depend on me.'

He forced himself to stop, grabbing a tentacle and biting down on it. Tears were falling down his face, the veins in his forehead were prominent. After he had sat still for 5 minutes, he released the appendage. Giru now sat cross-legged in the middle of his tattered room and silently cried.

Outside the cabin, all three crewmembers rubbed their right ears. The hit to the door had interfered with their eavesdropping, as well as caused quite a bit of pain.

Ayumi looked at Arata, "Is this the man you want to go down in history with?" She asked.

Arata gave her an angry look. "He needs help, not abandonment."

Mist glared at Ayumi, hand on his gun. 'If you betray him,' he thought, calling on his Mana, which gave him a smoky purple glow, 'I will kill you before you know it.'

Hearing his thoughts, Ayumi folded her arms and called on her psychic power, which gave her a light pink glow, "You'll be dead before you pull the trigger."

Arata was shaking angrily now, fists balled tightly. He could only manage a whisper, "W-we are a crew... we shouldn't fight, guys!"

The ship stopped moving abruptly and the wind stopped blowing. Everyone fell and looked up in confusion. There was a dark purple orb around the ship, and it was being pulled southeast. Giru felt this abrupt motion and wiped his face, leaving his cabin while making sure nobody could see inside. "What's going on?" He asked, looking up at the orb. Arata looked at Ayumi and Mist, then stood up again. "We don't know. I think something has us."

Giru scowled. "Well, whatever it is, it's cutting off our contact with the wind and water. We'll wait and see.

Ten minutes later, the orb disappeared and the ship was docked at another island. Giru stood in front of the crew, looking towards the starboard side. Two women wearing tattered clothes floated up to the deck, surrounded by blue and green dust. Giru poised his tentacles in case he needed to attack, as well as Mist drawing his guns, Ayumi's pink aura flaring and Arata getting in a runner's stance.

The women spoke in unison, "If you are a prisoner on this ship, we will free you and kill all involved." They said, looking Giru in the eye. Giru raised an eyebrow, then replied "No. I'm captain."

The women looked at each other, then at him. "Very well. Please come ashore."

Ayumi interrupted them, "WAIT! Why did you force us here?!"

The women remained silent, looking at Ayumi. Giru looked at them, then to her and back. "Uh... well?"

The women perked up when he spoke, "Yes?"

Giru looked confused and a bit agitated. The fact that this little incident agitated him was even more agitating. "Answer her."

The women looked at each other, then to him again. "We do not converse with humans."

Giru's expression jumped into shock. "You... you're saying I'm not..."


	24. Paranormal Paparazzi

"We do not converse with humans," the women had said. Giru's composure faltered, and his eyebrows signified his anger. "Then why are you talking to me? I'm fucking human, I just ate a devil fruit is all."

The women looked at each other, then at Giru again. "Others shall explain. We merely brought you here. Please come onto land." They asked in unison. He was reluctant, and wanted an answer immediately, but it seemed that wasn't an option. "Fine. We'll come ashore. I won't come unless my crew does too."

The women nodded, then jumped off the side of the ship onto land, waiting for the crew to do so as well All four did, some in different ways than others. The women began walking inland, and the crew followed suit.

On previous islands, the people would gawk in awe at the sight of Giru, but this time was different. Everybody on the island looked at Giru as if he was a celebrity come to visit, but looked with contempt, disgust, and even hatred at the three following him. They huddled close behind him as the walking continued, unsure of what would happen if they were to lag too far behind Giru.

"You never answered the question. Why did you drag my ship here?"

The women still spoke in perfect unison, "We detected you among humans. We were worried that you had been captured, or possibly imprisoned. We hold those of your kind in high regard."

Giru wanted to protest the last sentence, but he knew it was futile. "What do you mean my kind?"

"The unholy."

Giru balled his fists. He wasn't a real demon. He just ate a fruit. Just a fruit. Just a damn fruit.

A woman in the leering crowd began sprinting towards the group with a wide smile on her face. The two women quickly turned their heads to her, causing her to stop in her tracks and return to the crowd of onlookers.

"So what is this place?" Giru asked, teeth clenched.

"A safe haven for those that have left their mortality behind. Witches, warlocks, vampires, succubus."

The women stopped at the doors to a mansion, stepping apart and gesturing towards the door. "You may enter. Once you do, continue forward."

Inside was no different from the rest of the island. Gloomy, dark purple interior with scarce decorations and people looking at Giru with admiration and at his crew with disdain. He walked forward, tentacles poised to strike should anyone get to close, but the entire crowd shifted like a parting sea to let him through. Eventually he came to a throne, upon which sat a woman, seemingly in her mid-30's. Giru folded his arms and let his tentacles drop. "So I'm guessing you're the witch queen or some shit like that, huh?"

"You guess correctly, my lord."

Giru clenched his arm.

"I know what questions you want answered. The fruit you ate, as I'm sure the other lord has told you, is the demon among devil fruits. You may refer to yourself as human all you wish, but in our eyes you are truly the unholy."

" _Last time I was sharing a body with someone I never even knew you guys existed! I have fans! This is awesome_!" Akuma exclaimed.

"We brought you here not only to make sure you had not been imprisoned, but to offer you everything and anything you desire. No person on this island will tell you 'no'. Everything here is yours for the taking."

"Yea, well, the only thing I desire is to watch the blood spill from a Celestial Dragon's neck. So unless you can make that happen. I don't want shit from you."

The crowd went into an unintelligible, excited murmur. The queen stood with a smile on her face and hands on her hips. "You truly are our Lord. The Celestial Dragons have been our enemy for countless generations. To have their grasp on this world severed would be the greatest day in our history. Many of our kind have been stoned, burned-"

Giru rolled not only his eyes, but his entire head around in disinterest. "Yea, yea, witches get killed. That's kinda public knowledge. We'll be leaving now."

At this time, a pair of people came into the mansion. A tall, muscular man, no less than 9 feet tall, with a puppet mask on his face and the attire of a butler. However, the mask was cleanly cut off in the center to reveal his lips... or lack thereof. He had no cheeks or lips, just pitch black gums enveloping pearly white teeth. On his back were two flat beams crossed in an X, with chains in each end. These chains led to the man's wrists and ankles, essentially making him a puppet. In his left arm was carrying a limp black duffel bag that sounded goopy and gross as he moved with it. His right arm was preoccupied with keeping the lavendar haired woman on his shoulder steady. She appeared to be late 20's to early 30's in age, well endowed, and wearing a black dress and purple lab coat, as well as a pair of glasses. Her hand rested on the man's head, absent-mindedly stroking his slick grey hair. "Oh my," she commented, taking in the crowd's excitement. "Seems everyone's having a party without us, Mr. Sin."

" _ **Hhhraaaaaarghl**_..."


	25. Six (And A Half)

Nobody in the crowd paid much attention to the duo that had arrived as the 9 foot man strolled through the crowd and up to the throne. There, he dropped the gushing, sloppy sounding bag and gently placed the woman onto the ground. She brushed her hair behind her ear and gave everyone a smile, doing a slight bow towards Giru. "Greetings, my Liege. I am Alicia Tyque, or Miss Tyque if you'd like. This is Mr. Sin."

Mr. Sin put an arm across his stomach and an arm behind his back before bowing.

"Alicia is one of us who prefers to live off the island. She's not going to be as excited about you as everyone else is." explained the queen.

"I don't know enough words to properly tell you how little I care," Replied Giru.

 _"That's not saying much."_

"Shut the fuck up."

The queen sat on her throne, smiling and resting her head on her hands, "So spiteful!" She said, admirition obvious in her voice, "Before you leave, may I ask... Does your crew have a chef?"

Ayumi, Mist, and Arata all piped up after hearing that. "No! We don't!" Said Ayumi and Arata.

The entire room fell silent as all pairs of eyes stared daggers at the humans. They all scooted a bit closer to Giru.

"No. I don't have a chef."

Mr. Sin tapped him on his shoulder. Giru turned around and looked up at the man, pretending to not be afraid.

"Mr. Sin here is a great cook. You all have been eating raw fruits and vegetables, and dried meat, haven't you? I'm sure Alicia wouldn't mind parting with him for you."

"The hell I would." Said Alicia, stepping in front of Mr. Sin, her hair starting to flare wildly. "He may be the unholy, but I won't part with Mr. Sin for anyone!"

The queen looked upset, but she had a tinge of understanding to her eyes. "Alicia, he's on a quest to kill the Celestial Dragons."

She froze, her eyes wide and mouth slightly hung open. Her eyes trailed over to Giru, who was trying to get his crew to back away from him. She looked at Mr. Sin and held a hand to his chest. Wiping away a tear, she regained her composure and a fire burned in her eyes. "Those corrupt, greedy..."

She couldn't finish her rant as she trembled with rage. Mr. Sin hugged her from behind and she quickly calmed down, sighing. "Like I said. I won't part with Mr. Sin, but I damn sure will help you. Give me an hour or so to pack some things. I'll meet you at your ship."

She began walking away, her hands in the pockets of her lab coat, "Mr. Sin, make sure to bring your bag."

The tall man scooped up the sloppy bag as he followed behind her. From his cheekless mouth, saliva started to slowly drip.

'This is honestly a relief,' Giru thought as he led his crew back to the ship, ' I'm tired of bland, raw food. We finally have a chef.'

' _Well say that out loud. Tell your crew how you're feeling.'_

'Wh-what? It's just a-'

' _Don't argue. Just tell them.'_

Giru made an awkward face, looking over to the side. "Uh... It's uh, good we finally have a chef. All that raw and dried food was killing me."

Ayumi raised an eyebrow, "Really? Would have fooled us. You never talk about anything, you just bark orders nonstop." She retorted sassily. Giru balled his fists and started to turn around, but he immediately felt Akuma take over his body and continue walking calmly, even unballing his fists.

' _Don't react with anger. She's right. All you did was give orders.'_

Then he had control again. Taking a deep breath, he said "You're right. And I'm sorry about that. I'll do better, for all of us."

Her eyes went wide and her stride slowed down. She was completely expecting him to lash out. "Uh... A-alright... I'll hold you to that..."

Aside from clothes and a spellbook, Alicia didn't need to pack much. What was more important was spell components. Eye of newt, tongue of frog, those kinds of things. Mr. Sin had only to carry in supplies for cooking. His prized possession was a spice rack that had a pound of various spices. It was like a drawer with five slots, and ten sections in each slot for a different spice or season. 'JA' was carved into the side in very fancy writing. As he slid covers onto the slots and nailed them in so none of the spices would spill, he noticed a drop of his saliva hit the glass top. He froze for a moment, then looked at the black duffel bag he had been carrying earlier. Alicia noticed his attention shift and sighed, turning away. "Go ahead, dear. I'll be waiting outside." She said, picking up her bags and walking out. Mr. Sin walked over to the bag and carried it into a sectioned off room with a large metal door. Inside was spotless. The floor and walls were tile, and there was a red bench against a wall. Hanging on the wall as well was a high powered hose and what looked like a hair dryer. Mr. Sin sat on the bench and placed the duffel bag in his lap. His breathing became heavy and the saliva leaking through his teeth increased. He unzipped the bag shakily and pulled out a human arm, dripping with gored chunks of flesh- residue from the bag.

 _ **His jaw unhinged.**_


	26. Bachelor Number 666

Mr. Sin sat in the tiled room, staring at the blood that pooled on the ground beneath him. After all the times he'd done this, it still stung him to his very core to see the remains of when he was satisfied. He took the hose off the wall and sprayed the room down, as well as the inside of his bag, removing the blood before it had a chance to dry. He also hosed his own clothes off, for he surely had spilled some onto himself. When he was done, he used the hair-dryer looking device to dry himself off, then exited the room and grabbed his belongings, carrying them out to the waiting Alicia.

Giru looked up at the gloomy purplish gray architecture of the island in thought. These people saw him fit to worship. To call him 'Lord', 'Liege', 'Unholy one'. There was nothing he could do about it. No matter how he argued, they would see him as a demon. Maybe that would be true for the rest of the world too...

 _'Don't be so down, pal.' Akuma insisted, 'People look at everyone weird when they don't fit a norm. You're going to be like this for the rest of your life. There's no point in feeling bad about how people see you. Embrace it. Love it.'_

Giru slowly nodded. Akuma might have been the bane of his existence, but he had a point.

"CAPTAIN! ALICIA AND MR. SIN ARE HERE!" Arata shouted excitedly from the crow's nest. Giru stood at the starboard side, looking down over the ship. Alicia and Mr. Sin were approaching, Mr. Sin pulling a hand trolley with all their belongings packed onto it. Behind them was a crowd of the islanders, following closely with large smiles.

"I appreciate your help. Both of you." Giru shouted down, leaning on the rail.

Alicia flipped her hair, "It's my pleasure, your lordship."

A few moments later, they were ready to set sail. Alicia and Mr. Sin had roomed together, and Mr. Sin had stocked the kitchen and storage. The Queen had arrived as well and offered spare lengths of wood and sail material, in case repairs were needed. Giru was now back on land to thank the islanders and apologize for his attitude, albeit doing so reluctantly.

"I'm positive nobody here held a grudge." The queen said, bowing slightly. "You are welcome back any time."

Giru nodded and turned around to get back on the ship. Suddenly, a multitude of arms latched onto his tentacles, arms, and legs. He quickly whipped his head around to see if he was being attacked, but what he saw was probably worse. All pairs of hands that had grabbed him belonged to some of the women of the island.

And all of them were nude.

"LET ME CARRY YOUR SPAWN, DARK ONE!" They all shouted as Giru tried to shake them off. He grimaced at that and levitated off the ground, vehememtly trying to shake them off of him. Everyone on the ship watched with amused smiles, except Arata, who was confused as to why the ladies were naked.

 _"HEY, HEY, LET ME GIVE THEM OUR SPAWN, BRO!"_

One of Giru's eyes shined red, the other remained normal, "NO! STOP TRYING TO TAKE OVER!"

Giru teleported many times in rapid succession, trying everything he could to get the determined women off of him. Eventually he had succeeded, teleporting onto the ship.

Giru was on his hands and knees panting, with a hand against his heart, "WEIGH THE ANCHOR, WEIGH THE FUCKING ANCHOR!"

Minutes later, the island was a speck on the horizon.

Giru laid on the floor in his destroyed room, arms folded across his chest. He took a deep breath, but Akuma interrupted before he could speak, _"You gotta keep your word to Ayumi, you know."_ He said. Giru nodded silently. _"I get that you're disconnected socially. But you noticed something was wrong with how you were treating your crew. Ehem, even though you tried to blame me."_

Giru got up and began replacing all the items he had tossed around his room. "Yea. Sorry."

 _"Forget about it. So, what are you gonna do?"_

As he set his bed back down on all four legs, he replied "I'm gonna interact with the crew- MY crew, more. Even if it's difficult. I have to treat them better than what I've been doing."

 _"Good, good."_

Suddenly, Giru was standing outside his room, with all of his crew standing around him. Everyone was smiling warmly, save Mr. Sin. Giru looked over to the door of his room, then to the position he currently stood in. "Wh-wha... What?"

 _"Oh, nothing. I just made you hallucinate for a bit so the crew could hear that conversation we just had."_

Before Giru could start the flurry of profanity, Arata pulled him into a hug. He started to push him away, but sighed and patted the boy on the back. Ayumi's smile grew ever so slightly larger and she tilted her head to the side. "Well, Captain? Where to now?"

Giru blinked at her, dumbfounded. "Uh... That way?"


	27. Crew Meeting

Without a Navigator or a specific destination, the crew had no choice but to drift aimlessly and hope to find a hospitable island. Having to rely on only the wind and waves to bring them somewhere was stressful, especially to Giru. He sat in the crows nest, tapping his fingers on the wood in an impatient manner. "Thirteen damn years and you didn't think to get me a book on Navigation?" He asked in an annoyed tone.

 _"Oh, I'M SORRY, I expected you to, y'know, want to find people to help you. Not like I could think of everything i needed to read."_ Akuma replied with indignation.

Giru raised an eyebrow, "I've meant to ask. How did you find opportunities to read?"

" _The Celestial Dragon's guards. They hate them as much as anyone else, so when I gained their trust and told them I would be attempting something, and they knew their names wouldn't get in the mix, they'd sneak me a few things."_ Akuma explained. His voice then took on a more spiteful tone, _"The dragons don't go into their fucking library, they couldn't read a book to save their goddamn lives."_

Giru chuckled, "Heh. That sounds like something I'd say..."

Akuma remained silent. Giru's brow furrowed, "Akuma?" He called.

 _"... Sorry. I... I need to do something. I'll let you know when I'm back."_ Akuma replied. This time his voice held regret and distance, very unusual from what was the norm.

"Wait, you can leave-"

Giru's eyes flew wide open as an unpleasant tingle shot throughout his body, starting from his head and travelling down. It lasted only a moment, and Giru winced when it subsided. "... He can just... leave?" Giru asked himself, very confused.

"Well... This is an opportunity to, uh..."

He levitated down to the deck, his hands in his pockets and eyes closed.

'These people are depending on me to lead them. My goal is to kill the Celestial Dragons, but it's deeper than that.'

He landed on the deck and took a deep breath, 'I want to destroy this world that allows such scum to be above reprimand. That would allow a parent to shove a devil fruit down their son's throat and sell him.'

He had been thinking hard on this for the past few days at sea. To a stranger, his 'goal' was suicidal at best, and nothing should be worth instant death. Killing the dragons was an easy enough task in itself, but the repercussions of such a thing would get a person into Impel Down.

The very thought made Giru tremble.

So how did it make his crew feel?

"EVERYONE, ONTO DECK!" Giru yelled, though less in a commanding way. Arata was the first to rush up in a blur, followed by Tyque, who had already been tanning on the deck. Mr. Sin and Ayumi came from the kitchen, and Mist walked out from his room. They stood scattered around the deck, all facing their captain.

Giru took another deep breath and sighed. 'They're your crew...'

He sat on the deck in meditation position, "So... ehem... My goal is killing the celestial dragons. But, put less simply... it's revolution. No matter what, the world government must be overthrown and the dragons must be punished for their atrocities."

Everyone shifted rather uncomfortably. Truly, the end goal was a large one. Something not toyed with lightly.

"So, that's my goal."

He turned his head to Mist, "What's yours?"

Everyone looked surprised at that, except Arata, who smiled wide. Mist looked towards the sky for a moment, then made a long series of hand signs.

Giru shook his head, "Ah, something's up with Akuma right now. I can't-"

Ayumi interuppted, her eyes shining, "His goal is to dismantle the world government, to let countries run autonomously without fear, or the need to tribute."

Mist nodded, leaning back on the mast with one leg up and arms folded.

Giru slowly nodded as well, then turned to Ayumi, "What's yours?"

Ayumi pushed her hair behind her ear and the glow faded from her eyes, "Distribution of the Dragon's wealth to the poor. BEFORE YOU SAY IT, I know that means I was being hypocritical when you first told us your goal. I just... Arata is my only real family. I was willing to let him play pirate with you because I thought he'd get bored or scared of it and we would leave, but for the first time in his life he shouted at me, and about you."

Giru rubbed his chin as he continued to nod slowly. Ayumi was just watching out for her little brother, and would rather live a mediocre life and keep him safe than let him go off on a suicidal pipe dream. He turned to Arata, saying nothing. Arata raised his hands high above his head, holding a wrench and hammer above his head, "I WANNA BUILD A HUGE SHIP THAT HAS A PARTY FOR ALL THE TOP PIRATES!" He exclaimed excitedly. Tyque giggled, and Mist smiled.

Giru wasn't sure what to think about Arata. His mentality wasn't exactly pirate material, huh? He was a kid at heart, and someone like that facing the chance of death...? He could understand Ayumi's worry.

Standing up, Giru replied, "I'd been commanding all of you around with no relationship built up, and for that, I'm sorry. I'll do better. You all have my word. Now, Miss Tyque? What's your goal?"

Alicia leaned into Mr. Sin's chest, looking down at the wooden deck, "I want to find the origin of Devil Fruits. I... ehem. That's all."

Mr. Sin put a hand on her shoulder and caressed it gently.

Signs of reluctance to express something. Mr. Sin knew what it was and sympathized with her. He had a lot to learn about the people he'd be leading.

"Mr. Sin?"

Alicia responded, "He can't talk. His goal is to regain his true body."

Giru had a lot to think about now. But he knew what he had to do first. "You can all return to what you were doing. Arata, I need to talk to you."

Everyone dispersed as Arata walked closer to Giru. 'I know you're worried, but please, don't listen to us, Ayumi.' Giru thought.

Ayumi sighed,smiling as the psychic glow faded from her eyes. 'He knew I was listening. He's good.' She thought.

Giru and Arata sat on the deck cross legged, 3 feet away from each other. Arata swayed from side to side as if he were a metronome, patting his thighs in rhythm.

"Arata... Ayumi is worried about you. I am too. You seem like a good kid, and you-"

Arata put a hand up to stop him. With an expression more serious than Giru figured he was capable of, Arata said, "I'll tell you what I told her. I'm not a child that needs protection. I'm a kid at heart because I believe there is always a reason to smile or laugh, no matter how bad things are. You know I can handle myself in a fight. Don't pity me, because there's no reason to."

Giru listened intently, and stood up when he was finished. Offering a hand to him, he pulled him up with a firm grip. When both men stood again, Giru looked down into his eyes. He smirked, "I dunno what the hell I was worried for."

They shook hands and Arata went on about his business.


	28. Not So Friendly Visit

Akuma floated over the waves with rage in his metaphorical heart.

Astral Projection. His soul left the body, being translucent and intangible. " _Giru's gonna have some questions when I get back. I can stretch the time limit a bit, so I should have enough time to do this."_

Talking about the celestial dragons, even for just a moment like that, made Akuma remember the years of torment he endured with a smile on his face. He might be batshit insane, but even he knew when too far was too far. He had been shot and stabbed by them too many times to count, and the abilities of the fruit barely kept him alive. He began teleporting instead of levitating, at a range of 40 miles each time. Akuma was travelling back to Mariejois, the home of the Celestial Dragons.

The 13 years were no easy task. Akuma hated the Dragons with all of his being. Every cent of humiliation and pain they dished out to him, he wanted to return them 100fold.

Even as he made his way back, he trembled with rage. _"A child... They did all that shit to me, in the body of a fucking child..."_

Akuma's eyes twitched and he sped up his teleportation rate to 70 miles. _"Fucking arrogant... greedy... FUCK! FUCK FUCK FUCK, MOTHER FUCKEEEEERS!"_ He shouted. There weren't any words to describe how he felt, but he had to release it.

He tried to give himself time to think out what he was about to do by teleporting this way, hoping that he would come to his senses before he reached them. However, the more he thought on it, the angrier he became. He stopped teleporting by distance and floated motionless in the air above the waves, and took a deep breath.

 _"Showtime."_

A malicious grin spread across his face as he teleported by location, returning to the slave cells of Mariejois in an instant. He floated up through the cieling and made his way to the Dragon's residence.

Look at them. Sitting on the backs of people like they're objects. Eating merrily without a care. Explosive collars on the necks of these slaves to keep them in line.

Akuma made himself completely invisible and floated to the center of the table. His tentacles snaked their way into the chests of six of the Dragons, who all shivered as if they were cold. _"Sleeeeeeeeeeeeep..."_ Akuma whispered.

"Ehem... Excuse me, everyone... I'm feeling rather tired... I believe I shall take a midday nap."

"Oh, yes, darling. I may do the same."

"Hmm, I'm feeling it as well..."

The six of them had their slaves carry them to their bedrooms, and quickly went to sleep and the guards escorted the slaves back to the cells. The tentacles remained in all of them as they went to seperate rooms to sleep, falling asleep much faster than should be possible. Akuma struggled to contain a maniacle laughter as he dove at the head of one of them, creating a connected dream.

They were all back at the table, eating and being merry. Akuma watched with a satisfied smile on his face. _"Now, let's see if I can traumatize you all."_ He said contently as he floated into view of all of them, right in the center of their table.

"Who is this! He dares stand before our meal!?"

One of the dragons pulled out a gun and fired. Bubbles sprayed from the weapon.

Akuma's maniacal smile reappeared. _"Ah ah ah."_

" _ **I'M the one doing the killing here.** "_


	29. Nightmare Come True

At the moment, Akuma's only wish was that he could contain his maniacal laughter long enough to truly soak in the symphonic screams each of the six dragons released.

But goddamn, was it funny.

Each of the dragons he had roped into his nightmare were laying flat on tables engraved with the Celestial Dragon symbol. They were wrapped down by barbed wire, all crying and begging vehemently. Their pleas didn't fall on deaf ears, oh no. These agony fueled requests simply added to Akuma's arsenal. Each promise they made in futile hopes to escape the torture brought to their face the image if one of the slaves that had begged and pleaded for their suffering to end- and there was no shortage of such.

Akuma took a while to let them marinate in their pain, as well as give them false hope that the pain had ended. He made them feel that ten minutes had passed, then walked back into view. He laughed at their attempts to plan how to escape, at how they suddenly became quiet when they heard him again. _"Hello again everyone! I think it's time that you all get out of here. So, you can decide who amongst yourselves will leave, and the last person here will stay as long as I wish."_

Immediately, each of them begged for their own lives to be spared. Exactly what Akuma expected of them.

 _"Well, since you all got one vote each, I guess nobody gets to go!"_ He said with a shrug. The screaming and crying immediately resurfaced as six clones of Akuma went to work, and the original watched from a floating viewpoint. In this dream world, Akuma controlled everything.

The six clones went about their dastardly deeds with smiles on their faces and malice in their eyes.

 _"Mariejois is falling down!"_

A chainsaw revs and a foot hits the floor.  
Blood splatters against the wall, followed by a few teeth clattering next to it, followed by a sledgehammer and a small "oops."

 _"FALLING DOWN!"_

The cracking is heard as a sledghammer connects with a restrained arm

 _ **"FALLING DOWN!"**_

An arm is ripped directly from the socket, and used to beat the dragon.

" _ **MARIEJOIS IS FALLING DOWN, MY FAIR DRAGONS!"**_

All the while, the original Akuma hummed along, tapping his foot against the air.


	30. Announcement

_"Yo yo my people, what's the haps? Sorry we ain't been updatin ya on the marvelous misadventures of the Shadow Keepers, but see what had happened was, the dude that writes our stuff? Well, that guy started college about a momth ago. Go ahead, clap it up for him. He's gonna go through and do some editing of previous chapters after he got a few reviews, both online and in person, saying the same thing about his formatting. The next chapter won't be up for another week or so, cuz he's gonna be formatting in his free time after classes. Stay tuned!"_


	31. Analysis?

Now on a low note, Giru had the time to analyze himself. Back when he was raging, Akuma had suggested he figure out what was wrong on his own. With the nuisance out of his head and some down time, he could finally do so.

Okay. First off, the two major ones. He wasn't a Psychopath, that was for sure. If in his earlier life he was able to act rationally and have meaningful attachments- however easily his parents severed them- then he wouldn't be one now. Sociopathy... he didn't consider himself to be very charming in any way. He actually felt a bit repulsed back at the island when all the women, uh...

It was possible he was a Sociopath, though. He wouldn't be surprised. Empathy was the deciding factor. Could he still feel it? Well, he chose not to kill Al, and felt quite guilty that they had made an incorrect assumption in who the opponent was. He was feeling worried about Arata's maturity. If he could feel guilty and worried, then any sociopathy would be mild at the most. Okay, good.

Depressed? He did keep to himself all this time, preferring not to interact with the crew. He didn't think he was depressed though. He was more angry than sad. Well, a mix of the two to be honest. He DID break down after yelling at Akuma.

"Well, whatever it is, putting a name to it ain't important. I just gotta keep it in check. I can't be constantly angry and distant from my cre-"

 _"HEY THERE BIG BOY YA DOIN' SOME SELF-DIAGNOSIN'!?"_

"Oh. Hello, pain in my ass." Giru replied to the demon, rolling his eyes.

 _" 'Pain-in-my-ass'? I thought we agreed on Akuma for my name. If you're renaming me, I have a few suggestions. I also want a dog bowl with my name on it written in bone letters."_ He replied.

"First of all, there's no way in hell you're eating out of a dog bowl while we share my body. Second, I'm not renaming you."

 _"Oh come on. Akuma didn't even have any heart behind it! You just took the name of my fruit! How'bout 'Rex' or 'Scruffy'? Or ' **Y**_ ** _KRAGSUTHUL THE SWALLOWER OF SOUL_ _S!?'_**

Giru stumbled at that one. Akuma's voice got a lot more... terrifying that time.

"Uh..."

 _"Just kidding, buddy. I uh... Ehem. I appreciated it though. Nobody ever, uh... named me before."_

Giru rose an eyebrow, sitting on his bed. "You've had other Eaters?" He asked.

 _"Yea. When a devil fruit user dies, the 'soul' of the devil fruit goes into the nearest fruit. So when one of my eaters kicks the bucket, I get to live inside a newly cursed banana for a few months. Sometimes... sometimes years."_

"... Wow... I... I'm sorry. I've been treating you like a nuisance this whole ti-"

 _"Aah, don't sweat that, kiddo. I AM a nuisance. If I gotta chillax in another fruit for a few years after you croak, I'm gonna enjoy you while yer still livin'. Make some good memories to laugh at while I wait for some other sap to take a bite."_

Giru was shocked to say the least. Here he was complaining about 13 years, when Akuma had to go through this time after time. It was an endless cycle that-

 _"HEY! DON'T YOU GO START FEELING PITY FOR ME!"_ Akuma yelled, interrupting Giru's thoughts.

"Oh, right. You can pretty much hear what i think... But I mean it. You're a lot more than what you- EUGH NO, STOP, STOP! AKUMA NO I DON'T WANT TO REMEMBER THIS!"

 ** _"SHE WAS 70 YEARS OLD AND WEARING A SHORT SKIRT! YOUR CALCULUS TUTOR WAS WEARING A SHORT SKIRT TO GET YOUR GRANDAD'S ATTENTION. YOUR CALCULUS TUTOR AND YOUR GRANDAD FUCKED."_**

"WHY WHY WHY- NO NOT THE LEGS, AKUMAAAAAAA!" Giru yelled in mental pain as he was forced to picture the grotesquely wrinkled, veiny bodies 'wrestling'.

Akuma went into detail on this one.

After 10 minutes of very gross, very vivid forced imagination, Giru's torture subsided. He pulled his head out from the porthole window, hoping that none of the vomit hit the ship.

 _"Still feel like giving me pity?"_ Akuma asked in a sweet voice.

"Every fiber of my being wants you gone." Giru replied spitefully. Wiping away the vomit from his mouth, a thought came to his head. "Akuma. You LEFT. How and why. And where."

 _"Oh I just went to this place called Nunya."_

"Akuma. You LEFT. MY BODY."

 _"OUR body, friend."_

Giru pinched the bridge of his nose. It was useless to try to get a straight answer from him.

"Fine. Keep it to yourself." Giru gave in, brushing the subject aside.


	32. Down Time

Arata was feeling all warm and bubbly inside after that exchange. Giru respected him more and Ayumi was more accepting of their captain. Giru was even making an effort to warm up to everyone! "Yush! I'm feelin' pumped up!" He exclaimed as he sped around the ship, looking for things that needed fixing. He soon found that... he had already made any minor repairs they needed prior to his enthusiasm. He sat in his workshop, pouting. All that motivation, gone to waste.

Well, maybe now he could work on other things! Of course he would need to buy raw materials and welding equipment... Wait, did anyone on the crew have any weapons in need of an upgrade? He knew for sure Giru wouldn't,. "Oh oh! Mist! I can help Mist work on his guns!"

The adolescent boy zipped to the marksman's room, knocking on the door with gusto. Mist soon opened, an eyebrow raised at the shipwright's nature.

"Mist! I wanna help you with your guns! I'm a shipwright so I can-"

Mist put a finger to the boy's mouth before he began talking at supersonic speed. Gesturing to follow him, Mist showed the boy his simple set up with a small workbench, a toolbox, a chest of bullets, and a crate of dials. Grabbing a notebook and a pencil, the marksman wrote 'You know guns?' to show the boy. Arata nodded, zipping away for a split second then appearing back with his own toolbox. "I'm good with most mechanicals! But um, things like gunpowder, I wouldn't know how to improve."

Mist pointed to himself with a thumb. It seemed the marksman had some good ideas for gunpowder upgrades. Huddling around the small workbench, they began collaberating.

Alicia sat on their shared bed, flipping through her spellbook. "Mr. Sin. This was a spur of the moment decision. I never even considered to ask you if this was something you'd want to do, darling." She said after having contemplated the words for a few moments. The huge man turned to her while shining his boots, giving her a thumbs up. It was about the most he could do.

Alicia smiled ever so slightly. "Good, good... Aah, there it is."

Alicia's lavendar hair flared up as if blown by the wind, a purple sparkle enveloping her body as she spoke the words "Non moenibus audiri!"

The sparkles spread out from her body and covered the walls of the room. She closed the spellbook and set it aside on the bed. "Now. I did feel the presence of the unholy in our new captain. Mr. Sin, you know you're more important to me than anything this life has to offer, right?"

Mr. Sin nodded.

"Killing the Celestial Dragons is quite a goal. Sure, many have thought it, but to even say it aloud? That warrants respect. However. We are not devoting our lives to 'Giru' or 'Akuma', Mr. Sin. We are aiding in their cause. Whatever transpires from now until we comeplete that goal, happens. If we end up liking being pirates, fine. If we feel the need to seperate, so be it."

Mr. Sin nodded again, putting down his foot and lifting the other into his lap to shine it. He didn't remove them to polish them.

"Don't feel responsible to make sure this crew succeeds, Mr. Sin. This is a big risk to take, but if things become too much to handle, we look out for ourselves first and foremost. Okay?"

Mr. Sin just nodded again.

Alicia clenched the spellbook in her hands, biting at the inside of her cheek. Nodding and thumbs up. Thats all Mr.Sin could do to communicate. She missed his voice. His laugh. His singing... dear Goddess, his singing...

At the memory of these lost treasures her heart began to ache. Without thinking, Alicia said, "I love you. Jipetto."

The huge man stopped polishing the boot, sat frozen in his chair with his leg on his lap. He clenched the rag he cleaned with, hands trembling. His perfectly white teeth, each one completely visible from his lack of cheeks or lips, framed by black gums, chattered together. His breathing hastened.

Alicia's eyebrows knotted together. "I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said your... I'm sorry."

Mr. Sin shook his head, standing out of his chair and leaving the room. He gave her a thumbs up as he left, heading towards the kitchen.


	33. Chef Zombie

Mr. Sin shook his head. Telling her she didn't need to apologize. Though he couldn't bear to look her in the eye now, Mr. Sin gave the witch a thumbs up and left the room, heading for the kitchen.

Cooking calmed Mr. Sin. The very moment he started washing the vegetables, the metric ton of sorrow began to lift from his barely beating heart. He didn't blame the witch- She called him by his real name from time to time, usually during intense, albeit one-sided, conversations. She always apologized, and Mr. Sin always started cooking afterwards.

With the vegetables cleaned, he set them out on his personal cutting board and began chopping. Though his hands were large and his flesh partially rotten, his chopping was expert level.

Hearing his real name was a great depressant. He missed feeling Alicia's hands caress his skin, the way he'd lay his head in her lap when they had their picnics and watched clouds roll by...

The zombie's chopping slowed to a halt. His large hands trembled on the handle of the knife as he stared blankly at the cutting board.

The way she played with his hair back then. Gently tugging at it as they watched clouds roll by. How she'd hug his head...

Mr. Sin put his knife and hand over the sink and stabbed himself in the palm. The blade sunk all the way through til the handle was pressing against his palm, thick black blood slowly dribbling down the stainless steel as if it were thick as syrup. The zombie craned his head back in relief as he was able to feel. Though the sensation was faint, the sharp pain- as if being poked by a thumbtack- lingered in his flesh. He revelled in this. The faint ability to feel. Even if it was only a slight pain. He felt it. He could still feel. That meant he was still human... right?

Mr. Sin removed the blade from his palm and set it in a bowl of bleach to clean. He washed his hands again and made sure the wound was no longer bleeding before returning to cooking.

The meal was a simple one. Hamburgers and french fries. Mr. Sin preferred to slice and dice his ingredients rather than leave whole rings of onion and tomato, or large leaves of lettuce- it was annoying how those ingredients always slid out of the burger with each bite, or you got too much in one bite. So he had these set to the side- A pile of sliced onions, a pile of diced tomatoes, potatoes, a freshly washed head of lettuce, a bowl of ground beef. Salt, pepper, seasoning salt, vegetable oil, butter, vinegar-

Mr. Sin was ready to cook. He became calmed as he began preheating the stove, prepping the grill, prepping the onions to be caramelized. A wave of warmth gently spread throughout his body, emanating from his chest as he began shaping the patties then seasoning them. If he could smile, he would be at this moment.

Mr. Sin was at peace.


	34. Meal Time

Over the course of an hour, the rest of the crew began noticing the enticing aroma of food being slowly, expertly, delicately prepared. Arata and Mist had to each take a moment from their work to close their eyes and take deep inhales of every scent spreading through the ship.

Everyone's breaking point came near the end of the hour mark. As the onions finished caramalizing, the burgers cooked to medium rare, the french fries sizzled, they all began making their way to the kitchen with growling stomachs.

Giru could hardly believe what he was smelling. It had been so long since he ate anything that even smelled this good! To hell with dried meat and fruit!

Giru teleported to the kitchen, second only to Arata who's mouth was already drooling at the meal set before them. Ayumi and Mist followed soon after, their faces alight with curiosity and hunger. They too became just as enamored by the mere sight of the meal as Arata was.

Mr. Sin had set the last plate for himself, a much thicker patty than anyone else had, and containing a slightly different aroma. Each burger seemed a different size to correspond with the person meant to eat it, each portion of fries matching. It was almost heavenly, the glistening patties framed by the surrounding ingredients that also had their own glorious sheen.

Mr. Sin looked at the starstruck crew, then down at the table and back again. He then gestured at each of them and their plate before sitting down and starting to eat. Everyone started to jump at their plate, but were instantly stopped when the zombie stomped, causing metal chains to erupt from the wooden floor and wrap the ravenous crew. He then pointed to the sink before letting them go.

The four of them washed their hands then jumped at the table, immediately beginning to eat. Mist and Ayumi's eyes were lit up like fireworks as they chomped down, and Arata... Arata was eating at a high speed. Chewing at the speed of sound. His face was a blur.

Giru took his first bite and couldn't even get through chewing it before his eyes started to sting with tears. So long... it had been so long...

 _'I know how you feel, dude. I miss human food whenever I'm stuck in a fruit.'_

'I... Y-yea. Goddamn, this is... This is good.'

One of Giru's eyes turned red, but it wasn't the brutal shade of crimson like it usually was when Akuma took over. This red was calmer, less bright. Akuma and Giru were sharing mutual control.

Mr. Sin was a damn good chef.


	35. TD

This was needed dearly. Everyone sat satisfied, basking in the afterglow of the meal. Nobody painfully full, nobody wanting for more. It was a nice moment.

Giru looked off to the side in thought, awkwardly tapping the tablebbefore breaking the silence. It took him a few times to get the wirds out, but eventually he'd ask, "Do you all want to... I don't know, uh... Play a game?"

Everyone looked to each other curiously. Mist signed 'What do you have in mind' and Giru sheepishly put a hand behind his head.

"Uuh... T... Tr-truth or Dare?" the man suggested reluctantly. Surprised laughter erupted and he began to storm out of the kitchen, to be stopped by a psychic wall.

"Sorry, sorry! It was just unexpected! We'll play, right everyone?" she coerced with a smile. All agreed. The crew went out to the deck, taking a seat either on the wood or in chairs.

 _"For the record, I wanted to play strip poker."_

"I'll go first!" Arata exclaimed. He quickly pointed to Mr. Sin, "Truth or dare!?"

The zombie rubbed his chin before putting up two fingers. Dare.

"YES! I dare you to hang from the mast and act like a monkey!"

The smiles were already spreading. Mr. Sin was motionless for a moment before he ruffled the shipwright's hair, moving over to the ship's mast. Chains shot from his hand and wrapped around the mast, supporting the man's weight as he swung back and forth on the wooden frame as if the chain were a vine, hunching over and scratching under his arms. Stifled laughs resulted, and he returned to the deck. Now it was his turn.

He tapped his chin, looking around the group before pointing to Mist. Mist lifted one finger to choose Truth.

"Ghhraaaaaarggghlll!" He moaned out.

Ayumi gave a small sigh. She would be translating a lot here. "He says 'Have you ever been hit by one of your own ricochet bullets'?"

Mist hung his head in shame, even covering his face with one hand. With the other hand, he made a 'go on' motion.

Ayumi read his mind once more, catching a snort before clearing her throat, giggling slightly as she got through her sentence, "He- pff- he once- hahaha- he once ricocheted a bullet into his rear end! He had to limp to a clinic to get it pulled out!"

The laughs were greater this time, at Mist's expense. It took a while to settle down, but eventually it was Mist's turn. He folded his arms with a smile across his face, looking directly at Ayumi. The two stared silently at one another as their mental conversation carried on. After a while, she stood up with a calm expression on her face. "Ehem... I keep a hold on Arata's candy because it's a good way to keep him under control."

Arata's ears were suddenly covered by pink translucent orbs.

"Also because he's my precious little snookums and I like feeding him."

"Was... was that a truth or a dare?" Alicia asked with a curious smile.

It was part of the dare that she couldnt say it was a dare. So she simply sat down again.

A stifled round of laughter, but fun nonetheless. Ayumi's turn. She removed the orbs from Arata's ears and crossed her legs, resting her chin on her fist, looking at Giru. "Ahoy, captain." she cooed, batting her eyes.

"This is already uncomfortable. Truth." replied Giru.

"Goody. Now, why exactly did you run from the women on Alicia's island?"

Alicia laughed, leaning in closer. "Do tell, Captain."

Giru looked over to the sea in disgust. "They were all naked and shit. Grabbing my pants, my tentacles. A few of them even grabbed my... You know..."

 _"Twig and berries, your One eyed snake, your third leg, your Action Jackson, your beaver cleaver, your goo bazooka, your-"_

Giru's eye's dimmed down from their bright shining red. He suppressed Akuma once more, temporarily silencing the nuisance. He could only do so at a calm, it seemed.

Ayumi raised an eyebrow. "You didn't find any of them worthy of carrying your spawn, dark one?"

Giru cringed. "Ugh. Do NOT call me that. And no."

Ayumi gave a slow nod to his answer, though a few more questions bounced around in her mind. She wouldn't ask them now. Later, definitely. "Your turn."

Giru looked around at his crew as he tried to decide who would be the victim of this dare. Arata? Nah. Alicia.

"Miss Tyque. Truth or Dare?" he asked the witch.

Alicia swirled her wine glass around with a smirk, "I'll say dare."

Giru got his own devious smile.


	36. Foolish Dragons

The Celestial Dragons awoke with shrieks of terror, thrashing in their silk sheets and wool blankets for half a minute each before realizing they had awoken from their shared nightmare. Their attendants each rushed into the room to check on the issue, discovering there was none. The Dragons were physically unharmed. This made each one chalk it down to a bad dream... However they would soon dine together again. When the topic of a 'good nights sleep' arose, the first to complain about their nightmare spurred the others to claim to have had the same dream. To the guards, this sounded like the work of a devil fruit! However...

However, the Dragons had a different problem.

"Why did you not request for me to leave!?" They each indignantly yelled at each other. Shouting ensued, food was thrown and insults were hurled. The guards simply let them. Why should they care if these asshats killed each other? Dragon killing another Dragon? The best entertainment.

Akuma had been out for more than just revenge, it seemed. Seeds of dissent planted into the Celestial Dragons.


	37. Ingenuity

After everyone caught their breath from laughing, Tyque sat down again with a playful smile. It was decided that the game would end on that high note, Tyque having enjoyed herself well enough to be perfectly fine in not giving a dare. The crew returned to their seperate quarters, leaving Giru and Akuma to themselves.

Giru stood, levitating back up into the crows nest and putting his feet up.

"So, fun time is over. We're sailing nowhere in particular, no map, no navigator." Giru thought aloud.

 _"So what's your plan, Cap?"_ Akuma responded.

Giru sighed, closing his eyes in acceptance, "Nothing at the moment. We're at the mercy of the wind and waves."

 _"Don't you think it's time to make your newspaper debut? Get yourself a bounty, an official crew name?"_

"Not yet. I dont know if we're strong enough for bounty hunters. I dont even know if we're strong enough for marines."

 _"Then shouldn't you test your mettle by finding a navy vessel or base?"_

Giru went silent. Perhaps... Perhaps it was. They'd never know until they tried. The thought of anyone dying, though... That terrified Giru. More than just his own death- Holy shit, what if Arata died? He wouldn't be able to live with himself.

 _"Hey, HEY! You're tormenting yourself. That's MY job."_ Akuma relented.

Giru slowly smirked. It was decided. Next island they land on, they'd go on the offensive.

That is, if they ever reached another island. The ship was still in the ocean with no land in sight a full week later. The crew had been informed of Giru's plan and were prepared to surmount the challenge! However... The challenge had yet to be presented.

Giru paced back and forth in his room, biting at his index finger as he tried to think of a way to find land. They weren't going to die out here on the water.

"Land. Land. We can't see land in any direction, meaning we're at the very least, absolute least 12 miles away from any land. Even if he could run on water, it would take Arata entirely too long to check every single direction, and relying on blind luck for him to go in the right direction- much less return- is flawed. We're at the mercy of the wind. The wind and waves. We don't have oars. We dont have powered engines..."

Giru looked up, pulling his finger away from his mouth and having his jaw hang slightly open. "Power..."

It took two seconds before he teleported to Mist's room.

Mist wasn't very surprised. It was as if Giru had walked in through the front door. He figured he had to get used to this sort of thing eventually.

"Mist. Back when Franky built our ship, he said it would run off the power of the Marksman, not the Navigator. He said we'd be slow but easy to handle. I need you to go to the mana console."

And with that, he teleported again. Mist could sense the urgency of the situation, so he would run up to his console and place his hands directly onto it.

Giru appeared in Miss Tyque and Mr. Sin's room next. They each turned their heads in curiosity.

"Tyque, do you have a spell to reduce the weight of an object?" He asked rapidly.

She rose an eyebrow, getting out of her chair. "Yes..."

Giru seemed to be getting excited now. He turned around and did a fist pump, then turned back to her with his hands together as if praying, "Can it work on the ship?"

Tyque was even more curious now. "Not enough for anyone to lift it or anything, but yes..."

Giru let out an audible whoop and jumped for joy!

"To the deck!" He shouted, running out of the room. Upon reaching the deck, he would shout "ALL HANDS ON DECK!" to get the crew's attention. Soon everyone was present.

"Alright. I'm getting pretty tired of looking at the water, and I know you all are too! What i'm thinking should get us a big increase in speed, however miniscule!"

Everyone kept listening in silent interest.

"Tyque, I need you to use your spell to lighten the ship, as much as you can without overloading yourself."

Tyque opened her spellbook, her body gaining a lavender glow and her hair beginning to rise.

Giru was very excited now! He went to Mist with a big smile, "Alright, as soon as she's done, you blast the cannons with absolutely everything you have! It'll eat up your stamina, but I know you've been training for that!"

Everyone was slightly amused, slightly impressed by this.

Giru teleported down to Arata, grabbing the boy's shoulders. Shaking the shipwright, making him laugh giddily, "Arata! Go down to all the cannons, point them Sternside! As aerodynamic as possible! Go, as fast as you can!"

Arata was made giddy by the captain's own giddiness! "As fast as I can!?" He yelled in response.

"As fast as you can!" Giru replied. The boy was gone in the blink of an eye, zipping at Sonic speed down to the cannons to angle them to point backwards.

Giru turned around and pointed to Mist again. "Mist! Is there any way we can help feed stamina into this!?"

Mist nodded down to him before looking at Ayumi.

"He can take our stamina if we press mana dials onto him." She reported. Giru jumped and fist pumped again!

"Yes, YES! I'M A **FUCKING** **MASTERMIND**! AYUMI, MR. SIN, LET'S DO IT!"

Giru teleported to Mist's room again, taking four mana dials out of the marksman's tools and porting back. By this time Arata had finished aiming the cannons, reporting back to deck and being told to join the group feeding energy to Mist.

Each individual grabbed a Mana Dial, pressing the shell between their palm and Mist's body. A multicolored glow came from the shells as Mist absorbed the mana from them. As he did so, his body nearly doubled in muscle mass, his face contorted in pain at the unnatural rapid expansion. He sweated through it, opening his eyes in determination and looking down at the console.

Tyque's glow finally faded as she stumbled towards the group, leaning on the rail for support.

Giru saw this and had another thought.

"Mr. Sin? Can you chain us all to the ship? And Ayumi, can you make a dome around us?"

Both Shadow Keepers replied with a nod, Mr. Sin's chains shooting out of the deck to tether everyone, and Ayumi's dome protecting them from what would soon come.

"On my mark..."

This was it. Either it worked, or they were stranded on the waves for an indefinite time.

Giru took a deep breath, the enthusiasm he displayed before replaced with determination.

 **" FIRE!"**


	38. Korjal

The ship rocketed forward at an amazing speed, lifting up out of the water and flying through the air. It felt like just under a minute before the ship came down to a mighty splash, now a mere two miles away from visible land! The crew cautiously looked towards the shore after being released from their chains and the dome, and a great cheer erupted from them all!

Immediately following said cheer, all of them fell onto their backs, instantly asleep from the exhaustion caused by exerting so much stamina.

Hours later, the Shadow Keeper Pirates awoke all at once, groggily getting to their feet with triumphant yet fatigued smiles. Mist's body mass had returned to normal, it seemed.

"It worked... it fucking worked... FUCK YEA!" Giru exclaimed, taking a power stance and trying to contain his joy.

Ayumi looked at him from behind, initially confused but a small smile tugged at her expression. It seems the captain was capable of positive emotion after all, albeit foulmouthed.

Before they could go on shore, the crew needed to eat and regain their lost stamina. They all headed to the kitchen to find it an absolute mess. All the dishes broken, fridge tipped over, cabinets emptied, pots and pans strewn about the floor. Mr. Sin growled in anger and surprise, shoving past everyone and going to his spice rack, his body language conveying his relief as it seemed not a single grain had been spilled.

The crew worked together to clean up the kitchen, Mr. Sin and Giru taking the time to wash every pot, pan, skillet, and utensil that had touched the floor while everyone else picked up what had been broken or spilled. After setting the fridge back upright and reordering the pantry, they would all realize that if the kitchen was in such a disarray, their rooms would be as well. That held less priority than finally stepping on dry land, however.

With just a little further to sail, the Omega Keres docked at an island by the name of Korjal. Since they had no pirate flag yet, Giru expected to recieve no initial attention from the navy stationed near the docks. This was an incorrect assumption, as immediately they were surrounded by said marines, rifles at the ready.

"Nobody lands on this island without paying 100,000 Beli in tribute to the Captain of the Naval Base."

Giru looked at these men oddly. Was that enough of a reason to assume the worst and start slaughtering? It sounded shady, but not death deserving.

 _'Oi oi, why are you thinking about this? They're marines, you're a pirate. That's enough of a reason to fight.'_ Akuma asked in his mind.

'Not all marines are bad. These guys could just be following orders that they hate.'

Their mental conversation was interrupted by Ayumi. 'Giru? What do you plan to do?'

Giru put his hands up and started backing away, returning to the ship. "Of course. We'll go get your money. It might take us a while to find that much to spare."

Back on the ship, the crew sat in the kitchen as Giru paced slowly, a hand up to his chin.

"First we have to find out more about this captain. What's going on is no doubt shady, but I dont believe they deserve to die over it."

Tyque looked at Giru in bewildered confusion.

"Excuse me? You're looking for a reason to fight? Shouldn't the very fact that you're a pirate be reason enough?" she asked.

Giru shook his head. "We're not going to kill anyone who doesn't deserve it. I want to be sure of our target before we strike. we've jumped to conclusions before, and I don't want it to happen again."

"The government will paint us in a bad light no matter who we kill." Tyque replied.

Giru put his hand down. He looked at Tyque, then at the door. "True. Definitely true. But I stand by what I said. Some of these people could be good hearted marines following orders they hate. Some could be actual good hearted people who want to protect civillians. So, a compromise. Dont kill anyone of a low rank."

Giru turned to the door and opened it, cracking his neck as he walked out onto the deck followed by the crew. A smirk slowly forming as his tentacles shot out of his back, all six of them writhing behind him and aiming their red conical spikes forward.

"Anyone else is free game."


	39. Dirty Hand

The Shadow Keeper Pirates returned to shore, walking towards the soldiers who kept their guns at standby, the apparent head of the small group smiling as he held his hand out for the 100,000 Beli owed.

Tyque's eyes scanned the small unit, searching for traces of penitence amongst the faces of the soldiers. Understanding displayed on her face as she noticed about five of the soldiers scowling at the one asking for money, not even attempting to hide their scorn for his action. Those were the ones Giru wanted to spare. The ones folliwing orders they loathed. The rest of them could die. Should die.

'Are we fast enough to dodge bullets?' Giru asked Akuma.

'Mmm... Yes and no. If you can keep track of them all, teleporting away when they're about to shoot is easy.' Akuma responded.

"HEY! COUGH UP THE MONEY OR TURN AROU-"

Giru's fist interrupted the man's yelling, knocking him a few feet into the air, startling rest of the soldiers for a split second before the battle commenced!

Giru teleported behind the unit, using his tentacles to cause painful yet non lethal wounds to the marines in an effort to incapacitate them. He didnt notice it at first, but as the red cones sank deep into the flesh of one in particular soldier, he remembered what Brooke had told him.

The Marines have played a dirty hand...

Arata's speed severely outclassed the soldiers here. He could certainly react to the sound of a trigger being pulled and dodge in time, so this was a cakewalk! Zipping around the dock, he would strike any soldier he passed on the back of the head with his monkey wrench. It was pretty funny too. He used his speed to add to the power of his attacks, stopping a few feet out of the crowd with the monkey wrench leaned on his shoulder, smiling wide as the soldiers tried to shoot him and he vanished again. He felt so cool.

Ayumi hadn't gone into combat yet. She honestly felt no need to. This ragtag militia would be taken out in seconds, and adding her abilities to the mix would have been overkill. Instead, she'd try to get as much information as she could while keeping up a barrier to block any stray bullets. While these marines focused on combat, she could easily hop between their subconscious and find out more about this place.

Tyque made a mental note of where the few 'good hearted' marines were, reluctantly swearing not to kill them as she engaged in combat. Tyque's witchcraft was no basic double, bubble, toil and trouble. She was a Necromancer, to be exact! As a group of marines brandished their rifles to fire at her, an enormous ribcage sprung forth from the ground, pristine white bones deflecting the shots before harm could come to her.

Then there was Mr.Sin. An observer would feel immense pity on this group that dared to fire on the witch, as they were met with the full fury of the reanimated chef! The group expected to be able to fluently dodge the large zombie, but to their dismay, he moved with the agility of any live human! A casual chop to the side and an arm was broken. The battle seemed entirely too simple.

Mist hadn't even gone into combat either. He stood beside Ayumi, twirling a gun on his finger as he watched the chaos unfold. This was not the result of arrogance or laziness, however. Since the beginning of combat, Mist noticed a lack of... Fear. A lack of self preservation. These men weren't afraid of getting hurt. He had a theory, and an easy way to test it. All it took was a silencer.

A clean shot. No mana used, a simple bullet put through the leg of a soldier preoccupied with fighting Mr. Sin. Theory tested, theory proved.

The man Giru stabbed quickly gripped the tentacle used to impale him. Whipping Giru around, he threw him into a nearby building.

Giru and Mist came to the same realization simultaneously.

These men couldn't feel a thing.


End file.
